Life at the Shinozaki's
by JDH1080
Summary: The day my home caught fire, was the day everything changed.
1. Chapter 1

Well bet any of my old readers probably never thought they'd see me writing again, well like a phoenix coming from the ashes I am back. Kind of. If anyone's a fan of my old stories I'm sorry to say that I have no plans to revitalize them at anytime, it's not out of the question for the future, but very unlikely as I just don't have the will to work on them or even the time.

Anyways want to thank IIonezerozero for betaing this chapter and answering all of my stupid questions, seriously dude you're awesome thank you so much. Because without him this story would probably not have even been written and would have just been left to the side. So if you like Corpse Party and are in look for a good read check out his stories, they really should have more views, so give them a read.

Anyways on with the story.

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><p>Life at the Shinozaki's<p>

Chapter One:

This is a disaster... Kishinuma Yoshiki thought to himself before slowly lowering the full to the brim trash bag to the soot coated floor. Striding over to his tattered couch he heaved a sigh before collapsing onto it.

Upon returning home from work last night he had received one hell of a surprise. The apartment next to his had caught fire and by the time the flames had been put out his own living space had been greatly affected. According to the fire marshal the cause of the fire had been due to the building's less than reputable wiring.

Closing his eyes Yoshiki slowly shook his head. 'No way in hell will I be able to stay here.' The blonde youth realized as his gray eyes scanned his ruined home. Everything before him had been greatly marred by flames. 'What am I going to do?' He thought to himself before settling deeper into his charred couch.

Yoshiki knew that he paid next to nothing for his dingy living space. Thankfully the building's owner had charged a very meager rent, though that also proved to be a double edge sword. 'That man wouldn't spare a cent to fix this place.' The landlord was notoriously cheap, which was reflected in the building's poor condition. And that was why Yoshiki had been able to afford living in the apartment with a part timer's pay.

With tired eyes he turned his gaze to the only window in the room and was mildly surprised to see sunlight seeping in through the charred curtains. The last time he had checked his phone for the time it had been nearly five in the morning. That was quite some time ago. 'There's no way I'm making it to class today.' The blonde youth thought as a tired yawn escaped from his throat. Having been active for nearly twenty-four hours and not having eaten since lunch at school yesterday he didn't have the energy to handle going to class today. Which was kind of a shame since he did try his best to keep from missing more than one day of school a week.

'Oh well...' Closing his eyes he allowed the fatigue to finally claim him. His lips curved upward into a slight smile as a sudden image came to him. The figure of a small statured blue haired girl, with matching colored eyes, fixing him with a stern look and a lecture on the tip of her tongue. 'Shinozaki will probably be pretty ticked off that I skipped again this week.' Was the blonde ex-delinquent's last thought before he finally fell into a dreamless yet peaceful sleep.

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><p>Shinozaki Ayumi didn't notice it until about lunch but... "Where's Kishinuma-kun?" She inquired out loud during the break as she realized that the group's headcount was short by one. The class rep didn't notice during the morning classes due to her sitting in the front and him near the back, but this was the second time he had missed school this week. Which worried her slightly that he could be falling back into his old ways.<p>

From across her a boy with light blue hair and glasses looked up. Morishige Sakurtaro's eyes spotted the dark haired girl. Shinozaki Ayumi was a small statured second year student with dark blue, almost black, hair tied in twin tails. She was dressed in the standard girl's uniform for Kisaragi Senior High. A tan colored long sleeved sailor outfit with a blue collar and light blue cuffs plus a blue skirt. Shrugging he offered his simple answer. "Kishinuma's probably just sick or he's skipping." The drama club student said simply before returning his attention to his meal.

The only other male of the group, Mochida Satoshi, shook his head in disagreement. "I don't think Yoshiki's skipping." The brown haired student said rising to the defense of his best friend. "He might not like coming to school, but he does do his best to be here as much as possible. He's probably just home with a cold." Satoshi explained good naturedly. The brunette male was not under the impression that his friend could do no wrong, but he did know that Yoshiki did do his best when it came to working. Not to mention that Satoshi knew his blonde friend wouldn't skip school to the point where he couldn't graduate.

The class rep of 2-9 frowned after hearing Sakutaro's and Satoshi's input. 'He better not be skipping.' She uttered in thought before chasing it away. It wasn't exactly fair to immediately come to the conclusion that Yoshiki was skipping just because his attendance record had an unexpected smudge on it. 'He's done pretty good this year.' Ayumi told herself as she recalled the blonde ex-delinquent's time at Kisaragi.

During their first year as high school students Yoshiki had made quite the name for himself. Constantly skipping class, getting into fist fights, and even smoking on school property. But not long after she intervened and kept him from punching that horrible excuse of a gym teacher, Tsubota, he became good friends with Satoshi and seemed to adjust his tune.

He started actually coming to class and the fights almost never happened. Sure there was the occasional confrontation. But according to Satoshi, and she was inclined to believe the brown haired boy, that Yoshiki never threw the first punch. The only things he really seemed to struggle with was smoking and actually excelling in school.

Every once in awhile Ayumi would smell cigarette smoke on the ex-delinquent. 'It's not easy to quit.' The dark haired class rep would remind herself before lecturing her blonde classmate about the dangers of smoking and why he needed to stop. Though it had been a good three weeks since he had hit the lighter, as far as she knew. Which was an improvement instead of catching a whiff of the stuff on him every other day.

And his school work, while shoddy, was at the very least being completed and turned in on time. Even if he did always seem to miss one day a week he always did turn in his work. Ayumi would like very much to see his grades raise above the usual D's and C's he managed to slide by on. But she couldn't fault him too much for struggling in school considering he wasn't the first student to get by with just barely passing grades. Not to mention the fact that having to manage a part time job just to retain his living conditions must leave him with little time for studying.

As far as Shinozaki Ayumi could see Yoshiki had been putting in an honest effort. She honestly hoped that this lapse was just a simple case of him being too sick to make it to school today and that he'd recover and be back in class soon. 'At least it's a weekend, if Kishinuma-kun is sick he'll have Saturday and Sunday to get better.' Ayumi thought to herself optimistically before returning her attention to the conversation her friends were having. The subject matter had switched from Yoshiki's whereabouts to the upcoming midterms, which would then be followed by the month long summer vacation.

From across the short class rep sat a brown haired girl with curls. "I can't wait till summer vacation." Shinohara Seiko announced excitedly before taking on a lethargic posture. "But first we gotta deal with midterms." The usually energetic girl sighed lacking her usual vigor.

From besides her a girl with short brown hair, also dressed in the girl's Kisaragi Senior uniform, patted her shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry Seiko, I'm not really all that prepared for exams yet either. Maybe we should have a study group at my house?" Nakashima Naomi offered her best friend.

Satoshi nodded in agreement. "That sounds like a good idea, I could use a refresher for chemistry and calculus." He commented as Seiko glomped Naomi.

"Oh thank you, Naomi-chan!" Seiko exclaimed excitedly as she shoved the side of her head against Naomi's bust.

Face flushing lightly the short haired girl quickly tried to push away her affectionate best friend. "Hey Seiko, cut it out!" She complained in embarrassment.

Sakutaro pushed his glasses up while he waited for the two girls to settle down before throwing his two cents into the mix. "A study group would be a good way of reviewing the material for those who need the help." He commented even though he didn't really need to study. 'But if Mayu goes I guess I don't mind too much being there.' And he knew how likely it was that Mayu would be in favor of a study session.

Next to the blue haired boy a girl with brown haired tied into a pony tail on the right side of her head nodded happily. "A steady session sounds like fun, and I could use some help for the English exam." Suzumoto Mayu admitted somewhat sheepishly as English was one of her weak subjects. She could speak it well enough, but the writing and reading portions weren't ever a walk in the park for her.

The girl who had originally brought up the subject of midterms, having finally been separated from Naomi, nodded in agreement. "Same here. I also need some help in history, math, chemistry-." Seiko started listing off the subjects on her fingers before being cut off by Naomi.

"Basically everything." Her best friend interrupted with a teasing smirk which widened slightly as her friend's carefree expression morphed into a sheepish smile.

Rubbing the back of her head Seiko sighed. "Eh, Naomi you know me too well." The curly haired girl said with a good natured grin.

Naomi nodded before glancing at the rest of her friends. "So how about it? Study session at my house next weekend?" She inquired.

"Sure." Satoshi nodded with a light smile.

Mayu nodded in agreement as well. "Sounds like fun." The small teen answered with a smile of her own.

Sakutaro held back a resigned sigh before nodding in affirmative. "I'll be there." He answered somewhat hesitantly. While the glasses wearing boy felt that attending was pointless he wasn't exactly sure he could trust any of these people to be able to properly give Mayu the help she would need. But if he could help her he wouldn't mind having to be subjected to a study session.

Ayumi, having been following the conversation, nodded as well. "I'll be there too." She interjected, speaking up for the first time since the subject popped up. Even if she didn't need any help for exams, study sessions with friends were always fun. Not to mention it could prove for a good chance to help them on any subjects they were struggling with. 'Mochida-kun admitted to not being very confident with chemistry and calculus.' The dark haired class rep mentally filed those two points away with a secretive smile as she spotted an opportunity.

Seiko sighed in relief as she finished her lunch. "Now that I know that I'll be able to prepare for exams we should figure out what we'll do for summer vacation." The excitable girl announced before fixing the group with a somewhat sly look. "I was thinking the beach, excessive splashing, skimpy swimsuits-."

Naomi groaned at her bubbly friend's perverse streak. "Seiko, there's still six weeks till vacation. We're only in the middle of May." The short haired girl said, quickly applying the brakes to her best friend's fun.

Ayumi tapped her chin with her index finger. Despite it being a bit early to start planning for summer vacation she couldn't help but think up a few ideas herself. Though she wouldn't care too much for going to the beach. 'Mochida-kun probably wouldn't care too much about seeing me in a bathing suit...' The small statured girl thought ruefully at her lack of curves and small bust. Though her cheeks did heat up ever so slightly at the thought of seeing her crush in swimming trunks minus a shirt.

Lightly shaking her head she quickly returned to the conversation at hand. Thankfully none of her friends seemed to have noticed her reddened cheeks. "What about a camping trip? We could roast marshmallows, tell ghost stories..." She paused before fixing Satoshi with a slightly sly look. "And maybe even do Kimodameshi." Ayumi suggested with a smirk as she watched the tall brunette stiffen up slightly.

Satoshi gave a nervous chuckle before expressing his reluctance at her ideas. "I'm not sure that's a good idea Shinozaki, I don't think it'd be good for my health." He was still somewhat skittish after her previous attempt at scaring the hell out of him with her last ghost story. He didn't think he could stand what she might have in store for him.

Ayumi's smirk widened slightly as she remembered the last time she had scared him. His reactions to her horror stories really were the best. And if they did do Kimodameshi there was a chance that they could be paired up, and the scary situation could prove for a good chance to have him cling to her for once. 'Though usually he ends up clinging to Nakashima-san.' The horror class rep thought with a frown as most of her ghost stories ended with him clinging to the person nearest to him which was either Naomi or even sometimes even Yoshiki, the latter of which tended to slug the easily frightened teen's shoulder for being such a scaredy cat.

Mayu, having noticed Ayumi's sudden dampened expression, spoke up. "Camping sounds like it could be fun." She said, hoping it would bring a smile to her friend's face.

Glancing over at her friend Ayumi met Mayu's smile with an appreciative smile of her own. 'Thanks Suzumoto-san.' The blue haired girl uttered in thought before the conversation continued without incident.

The latter half of the lunch period passed on with casual chit chat. Before the group knew it the first warning bell had rung, signaling the end of their lunch. Having roughly five minutes before the afternoon classes began the group quickly threw away any trash they had before rearranging their desks and returning to their proper seats.

The afternoon classes went by in a blur and before Ayumi realized it the final bell was ringing. The class rep of 2-9 sighed in content as she started packing her school supplies. While she did enjoy being at school she couldn't help but be pleased that for the next two days she wouldn't be confined to Kisaragi Academy. Once she finished her homework she'd have the weekend to laze about, maybe get some drawing practice in, play some video games on her PSP, or possibly even get in contact with her older sister who was currently backpacking through Europe.

"-zaki?" A familiar voice pierced through her thoughts. Bringing her eyes up she met the soft brown irises of Satoshi. Her brown haired friend was standing in front of her desk with a mildly concerned expression. "Shinozaki, are you alright?" His voice holding a slightly worried tone to it. He had been talking to her for about a minute and she hadn't responded the whole time.

Shaking her head Ayumi somehow found it within herself to keep her cheeks from heating up. "I'm okay Mochida-kun. I was just lost in my own thoughts, sorry." The blue haired girl explained with a sheepish smile. Suddenly her eyes locked onto the stack of papers in her crush's hands. "What's that for?" She inquired, effectively changing the topic.

Satoshi decided to take her answer at face value as she seemed alright and he didn't exactly have a lot of time. "Today's assignments." He answered simply before elaborating. "I was going to take them to Yoshiki, but I forgot that my sister has a dentist appointment after school, and I need to take her." Satoshi explained, doing his best to keep from showing how much of a hurry he was in. Usually he'd have little problem delivering missed assignments to his best friend. But his sister's appointment required her getting a filling and he didn't want to make her walk to Yoshiki's apartment while still being sleepy from the anesthetics. "Do you think you could deliver these for me?" The brown haired youth asked hopefully while restraining from glancing at the clock. He didn't want to make Yuka wait much longer.

Ayumi's expression became surprised at the unexpected request, and while she was mildly disappointed that this was just a simple favor to bring Yoshiki his missed work, Ayumi couldn't find it in herself to refuse. Considering she was the one who usually got on his case to keep up his school work it would be counterproductive to not make sure he got the work.

The only person close enough to Yoshiki who would deliver his missed classwork was Satoshi, but with him being tied up today that duty fell onto her shoulders and as class rep it wouldn't be right to ignore someone who needed help. "I'll do it." Ayumi agreed, making sure to keep her resignation out of her tone. "But I'll need Kishinuma-kun's address, I've never been to his place." She explained. All she knew about his living conditions was that he lived in a cheap apartment complex not too far from the school.

Satoshi felt his shoulders relax at Ayumi's agreement. "Thanks Shinozaki." He told her in appreciation. At her request for Yoshiki's address he nodded. "Of course." He said before pulling out a piece of paper he had written in advance on the chance that she accepted the favor.

Taking the slip of paper Ayumi's eyes scanned the address and directions from Kisaragi to his apartment. She didn't recognize the address, but the directions were pretty familiar to her as most of it was the same route she used to walk to and from school everyday. At the very least she wouldn't be going too far out of her way. "Alright." She said before pocketing the scrap of paper.

Satoshi smiled thankfully again. "Seriously Shinozaki, thanks for this. You're a life saver, but I gotta go now. I'll see you on Monday." The brunette told her before making his way out of the room to pick up his younger sister from the junior high school.

Now that her crush was gone Ayumi allowed herself to heave a sigh before deflating. While she didn't dislike Yoshiki she never really enjoyed being alone with him even if she did consider him her friend. He was blunt and was lacking in any sort of sensitivity, the complete opposite of Satoshi. Sighing once again Ayumi rose to her feet, making sure to grab Yoshiki's missed school work. Well whatever, all she had to do was deliver the work, tell him to get well (If he's actually sick) remind him to finish the work, and then be on her merry way.

It didn't take Ayumi long to locate Yoshiki's apartment complex. Thankfully most of the directions Satoshi had detailed were the same directions she took to go home, and his apartment was just across from a park that she passed by everyday. After a fifteen minute walk she found herself standing outside of his apartment complex.

The place was a bit run down, most likely due to poor maintenance . 'That's probably why Kishinuma-kun can afford this place.' The class rep thought to herself as she entered the dingy complex. Unfortunately the elevator wasn't in working order, and it hadn't been for a good while considering the police tape and layer of dust on it. Taking the stairs she took a quick glance at slip of paper Satoshi had given her to see that his apartment was on the third floor, C12.

Upon arriving to the floor in question she quickly located his apartment. Pausing in front of the door she raised her balled fist up and lightly knocked on the door before waiting for him to answer.

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><p>Yoshiki awoke sometime much later in the day. According to his phone it was nearing four thirty in the afternoon. If he had forced himself to go to school today he'd be coming home right about now to get something to drink, change out of his school uniform, and get a head start on his homework before heading off to the music store he worked at from six to twelve.<p>

Stifling a yawn he stood up and stretched his stiff limbs. He groaned while popping his back and found that he couldn't help but chastise himself for falling asleep on the couch. His back was going to be sore for a while now. "Probably would have been better off just sleeping on the damn floor instead." He muttered to himself while rubbing the leftover sleep from his eyes. Walking to the kitchen he pulled a glass out of the cupboard before placing it under the faucet and turning the tap on. Thankfully the water hadn't been shut off yet.

While filling the glass up he took a peek out of the window over his kitchen sink to see the sun was high in the sky. Pulling out his phone to double check the time, Yoshiki noted that he had about an hour and a half till his shift at the music store started. Pulling his now full glass away from the sink he took a quick sip while shutting off the tap.

Looking back at his ruined apartment he sighed tiredly. There was still quite a bit of cleaning to do but he didn't really feel like doing that right now. He would need his energy for work tonight. 'Guess I should get something in my stomach while I can.' The blonde thought to himself remembering that he hadn't eaten anything since yesterday afternoon.

Checking the cabinets he was annoyed at the lack of food he had. He didn't bother looking in the fridge, he was out of lunch meat so he couldn't make a sandwich. And anything else he had in there required the use of a microwave which wasn't an option to him right now with the power being off after the electrical fire. He had been needing to go shopping the last few days but he had been holding off as he was waiting until Monday when he would get paid. But due to recent events he probably wouldn't be going grocery shopping anytime soon. 'Oh well, I can make do.' The ex-delinquent thought to himself before pulling a box of cereal out. Just as he was getting a bowl he heard the sound of someone knocking on his door.

Wondering who that could be Yoshiki wordlessly placed the box of cereal on the counter top before striding over to the door. Upon opening it he was surprised at the unexpected visitor. "Shinozaki? What are you doing here?" He inquired dumbfounded that she was standing at his front door. While he did like the idea of Ayumi coming to see him he doubted that this was a social visit.

Ayumi froze in place as she took in Yoshiki's haggard appearance. His gray shirt and jeans had numerous patches of dirt and soot on them, and he looked a little sweaty. Now that she thought about it Ayumi couldn't feel any AC, which wasn't a good sign since summer was right around the corner and the temperature had been steadily rising.

Breaking out of her stupor the dark haired girl reclaimed her voice. "What happened, Kishinuma-kun?" Ayumi inquired as she tried to discretely peek around him. From what little she could spot it looked as though his apartment had caught fire.

Yoshiki frowned as he glanced down at his less than presentable appearance before looking back up to meet her eyes. "Had a little fire problem." He admitted vaguely as he stepped back in a nonverbal way of communicating to Ayumi that she could come in. There wasn't really much of a point in not inviting her in. She probably already had a pretty good idea of what was inside.

Stepping into his apartment Ayumi allowed her legs to carry her into the living room. The place was in shambles. The walls and floor covered in ash and debris, the furniture blackened and tattered, and even the small TV in the corner of the room hadn't been spared from being roasted. Glancing to her right she spotted a small kitchen that looked much more untouched than the living room. Turning around to meet Yoshiki's gaze she looked at him with a sympathetic expression. He looked pretty worn out. "What happened?" Ayumi repeated as she found that she couldn't get anything else out.

Yoshiki, having closed the door, followed Ayumi into the living room, watched silently as the girl who usually occupied his thoughts took in the appearance of his apartment for the first time. While he doubted that anything would ever happen between them he found that this really was not the most idea situation he had dreamed up of having Ayumi in his home for the first time. He had imagined that her first time stepping foot into his home would have been preempted with him going above and beyond to make the place look nice enough to hopefully guarantee that her first visit wouldn't be her last.

Seeing as she had finished taking in the sight of his charred home Yoshiki answered her casually. "This place is crap." He told her while keeping himself from showing how distraught he really was at his living space having been roasted. Walking to the other side of the room he crossed his arms and leaned against one of the blackened walls not caring that his already dirty clothes had just gotten more soot on them. "The fire started in the apartment next to mine, faulty wiring." The blonde teen bluntly explained to her.

Ayumi took another quick glance around the room. In the corner she noticed a few trash bags, obviously filled with debris and things that could not be salvaged. "It looks pretty bad..." The dark haired girl muttered feeling really bad for Yoshiki.

The twin tail haired girl knew that he worked hard to keep up his living situation but now in a single fell swoop it was in ruins. 'There's no way Kishinuma-kun will be able to keep living here.' She came to the conclusion easily enough. If it was a fire due to the building's less than adequate wiring then most likely his utilities had been disconnected. Also she doubted he had the money to replace all that had been lost in the fire, much less find a new place to move into on such short notice. "What are you going to do?" She questioned without really thinking.

Yoshiki, despite the dismayed feeling of having lost many of what few possessions he had couldn't help but feel slightly elated that his crush was concerned for him. The blonde teen quickly banished that thought, now was not the time to give any attention to his unrequited feelings for Ayumi. At her question he shrugged, trying to play it off as not being that big of a deal. "I'll figure something out." The gray eyed ex-delinquent told her easily enough. He didn't want her to worry about him, especially since there wasn't anything she could do in this situation. This problem was his own and like with every difficulty he experienced since meeting Ayumi he'd grit his teeth and get through it.

Ayumi didn't feel much confidence after hearing Yoshiki's casual response. "Kishinuma-kun, there's no way you'll be able to stay here." Ayumi, opting to for once take a page out of Yoshiki's book, decided to be blunt. "This place looks awful." And so far all she had seen was just the living room and kitchen. "I don't know exactly how much it cost to get an apartment, but I get the feeling that you got this place for cheap. I seriously doubt you'll be able to find anything you can afford on such short notice." She paused before glancing down at the debris scattered about the wood floor.

Not including the incident with Tsubota she had for the most part refrained from getting too involved with Yoshiki's personal life. The only other incidents of her meddling with his business involved reminding him to keep up with his school work and lecturing him on not smoking whenever she caught him red handed. But still she wanted to help in someway.

Sighing softly Yoshiki rubbed the back of his head. He couldn't really refute her points, so he decided that being honest was the best way to go about this. "You're right Shinozaki. Rent here is dirt cheap, I won't be able to find another place for so little." He admitted before pushing himself off the wall. "But I'll manage, I have options, don't worry about it." The former delinquent tried to assure her.

Ayumi quirked an eyebrow at him. For whatever reason she felt that the latter statement was his way of trying to simply ease her concerns rather than him actually having an optimal plan of action. But if anything his words only seemed to do the exact opposite. If anything her worry was only on the rise. "When you say options what exactly do you mean?" The class rep of 2-9 suspiciously inquired.

Yoshiki couldn't hold back the frown at her suspicious tone. Softening his expression he tried once more to ease her concerns. "Shinozaki, don't worry. I'll be okay. I started with nothing and I got this far, I can do it again." He told with what he hoped was an assuring smile. He really hoped that she bought his words, because his options were actually pretty limited and not very promising. He could either let his school work decline and pick up more hours at the music store while looking for another job or he could keep up with his school work and be homeless for awhile. 'I get the feeling that if I tell Shinozaki this she'd just chew me out.' The blonde thought to himself with an internal groan.

Ayumi shook her head as her frustration hit the roof. "Kishinuma-kun!" She called out while stamping her foot on the wooden floor. She was becoming fed up with him avoiding and deflecting her questions. "Stop dancing around my question and tell me." She firmly told him with all the authority she could muster as the class rep of 2-9.

Yoshiki flinched slightly at her snappish tone before sighing in defeat. Who was he kidding? If Ayumi really wanted something from him she could get it no problem, despite his coarse nature he found it difficult to deny her. "Alright Shinozaki, just calm down." He told her in what he hoped was a soothing voice. He didn't want to raise anymore of her ire than he was already about to. "I...I'll probably have to take a little break from school for awhile, pick up some more hours at work until I can find something affordable."

At his defeated tone Ayumi did calm down somewhat, crossing her arms she waited patiently for his answer. Once he finally told her what he was considering she felt her frustration reignite. "That's no good Kishinuma-kun!" The dark haired girl snapped at him. "You can't let your education take a back seat, if you leave school halfway it'll only be harder for you to finish later." Ayumi, all but yelling at him, told him.

Yoshiki for a second time raised his hands in surrender. Looks like that option had been vetoed. "Okay, okay. Calm down Shinozaki it was just a suggestion." He explained softly so as not to further her ire, he didn't want to add any more kindling to the fire if he could help it. "I promise that I won't let my school work suffer." The gray eyed teen swore as he knew that he didn't make promises that he couldn't keep.

Ayumi, still annoyed with the blonde teen, huffed. "A stupid suggestion." The blue haired girl scolded him before biting her lip. "You need to make it to graduation with us." Turning away from the blonde Ayumi muttered that last bit to herself while holding back a sniffle. When she thought it about it Ayumi found that she didn't like the idea of her group of friends not all graduating together.

Yoshiki, just barely picking up the last bit of her statement, couldn't help but smile. The fact that Ayumi still believed he could graduate really made him feel like he actually would. Looks like he'd be going along with option B. Considering it wasn't something completely new he knew that he could handle it. "Well than I guess I'll be camping again." The ex-delinquent quietly said, more to himself rather than to Ayumi.

Ayumi's eyes snapped back to him as her ears picked up on his words. Not liking where his train of thought was heading she questioned him. "Camping?" The dark haired girl inquired in a thick voice. "Would you care to explain?" The dark haired girl asked despite already having a decent idea of what he was insinuating. Her sharp tone was conveying that Yoshiki best choose his words carefully...He was so screwed.

Scratching his cheek Yoshiki didn't realize that he had just stepped back onto the minefield. "Shinozaki, you don't think I found this apartment on the exact day I left my parents' house do you?" He questioned before quickly explaining. "When I got kicked out that summer I spent a couple weeks living in an old tent in the nearby park. I got this place a couple weeks later, it's not a big-." Yoshiki's voice faded as he noticed the obviously dissatisfied expression his crush was sending his way. He really knew how to dig his own grave.

"Unacceptable!" Ayumi yelled at him, very fed up with the bleach haired boy. "You can't live on the streets! That's dangerous, you could get mugged or worse!" The dark haired girl cried out appalled at Yoshiki's plan.

Yoshiki clenched his jaw at Ayumi's reactions to his suggestions. So far every idea he had proposed had been quickly shot down, and now that he knew what her opinions were regarding his plans he knew that he wouldn't be able to intentionally go against her wishes. He despised the very thought of disappointing her, but still he had to do something! The blonde ex-delinquent couldn't help but feel embarrassed at how wrapped around her finger she had him, the only silver lining to that being that she didn't even realize it. Biting back his scathing retort Yoshiki couldn't help but feel his patience dwindling with his crush.

Taking a deep breath and order to try and calm himself Yoshiki suddenly realized how thirsty he was. Spinning on his heel he quickly stalked out of the living room to the kitchen with the intention of finishing his glass of water.

Wordlessly the occult loving class rep followed Yoshiki into the kitchen. Still remaining silent she watched him down his glass of water like a man who had been in a desert for a week without a drop of the stuff. The momentary pause in their argument did allow Ayumi some time to calm down and think rationally. When she really thought about it Ayumi knew that she had no right to meddle in his life she wasn't his girlfriend or anything but she didn't want to see her friend on the streets or drop out of school. Yoshiki wasn't perfect but he didn't deserve to be homeless or have his education suffer.

After downing the rest of his water Yoshiki definitely felt calmer. Breathing a tired sigh he absently ran a hand through his short hair. Looking at the palm of his hand he was unsurprised to see soot on it. Repressing the urge to sigh he wiped away the black ash on his pants leg. After another moment where the silence stretched on he turned to face Ayumi. Thankfully she seemed to have calm down as well. Though her eyes did look a little watery and red rimmed.

_"...whenever I get emotional I just start crying without really meaning to..."_

Yoshiki smiled gently as he recalled her words from that day. Afterwards she probably didn't put much thought into it, hell she would have done that for just about anyone. But to him it was a very defining moment. For once in his life someone other than his sister had cared enough to cry on his behalf and even believe that he could do more. That was enough to get Yoshiki to try and better himself. From that moment he had the overwhelming desire to make her right, to show, despite what everyone else said, that she wasn't wrong to think that he could make something out of himself.

"What do you suggest, Shinozaki?" The blonde ex-delinquent inquired, effectively ending the silence.

Ayumi's brow furrowed at his unexpected question. "What?" She asked not completely understanding of what he was asking.

Yoshiki placed his empty glass in the sink before walking over to her. "You've shot down all my ideas, so I'm outsourcing." He told her with a weary sigh. "If you got anything I'm willing to listen." He told her with a light smile. In a way he did hope she'd have the perfect answer. Ayumi was smart, she could easily come up with an acceptable answer.

Ayumi swallowed thickly as she realized that Yoshiki was willing to take any ideas she had. Glancing down in thought at her shoes which, she realized with some embarrassment, she had forgotten to take off before entering his home. Shaking her head Ayumi mentally chased away the tangent in her thoughts before trying to brainstorm and come up with an acceptable answer. After a moment of deliberation she had something. "What if you asked Mochida-kun? Maybe his parents would be okay with taking you in until you find a new place?" The class rep suggested with a smile as she was pretty certain that Satoshi's parents would have little trouble with temporarily accommodating Yoshiki.

Yoshiki sighed before shaking his head. He was mildly disappointed that Shinozaki's idea was one that he had decided wouldn't be feasible. "Sorry Shinozaki, but that won't work." He announced regretfully. The blonde went on to explain his reasoning. "I had already considered that, but Satoshi lives on the other side of the city. And it's easily over an hour long walk from my workplace to his house. I usually close up shop at midnight and the trains don't run that late." He continued feeling a little bad at having so easily shot her idea down. "I can't waste that extra hour it would take getting to his house, that's usually when I finish up my homework. And I can't quit my job or else I'd just be freeloading and I wouldn't be able to save up to afford another place." Yoshiki calmly finished his explanation.

Ayumi couldn't help but sigh at how easily her suggestion had been denied. As much as she wanted to argue it she couldn't, he did raise some really good points. It wasn't right for him to waste that hour that could be used to further his education and he couldn't just quit his job or he'd never be able to afford another place. Frowning the blue haired girl tried to think of whether or not any of the others might be able to take him in for a little bit.

Unfortunately the only other guy friend he had was Sakutaro but according to Mayu he lived in the same general area Satoshi did. Ayumi couldn't ask any of their other friends, the only ones who lived close enough where Yoshiki would still be able to maintain his job were Mayu and Seiko. Not to mention she had the distinct impression that he wouldn't be comfortable asking either of them for shelter. Plus she had absolutely no idea if they'd even be able to take him in.

Ayumi's frown deepened as her head started to hurt. She couldn't think of anything acceptable. The only friend Yoshiki would be okay asking for help was Satoshi, but that was out of the question due to the reasons he had laid out. 'Morishige-kun's out for the same reason as Mochida-kun. Can't ask Suzumoto-san or Shinohara-san...' Ayumi's eyes snapped open...when had she closed them in the first place? Forget that! She had it, she had the answer, and even though it wasn't exactly ideal she still didn't want to see Yoshiki fail. Especially if she could help him, and this was something she was willing to do. 'I just need to convince them...' Ayumi narrowed her eyes as she felt a strange determination swell from the pit of her stomach, a feeling that was very similar to that time she had stopped him from slugging that gym teacher.

Yoshiki stood silently as he watched the range of emotions play out on Ayumi's face. Her lips curled into a frown as she seemed to really be racking her brain on this one. After a few seconds of thinking she clenched her eyes shut as she seemed to be trying even harder to come up with a solution. Just as he was about to call out her name Ayumi's eyes popped open and her expression became thoughtful as though she had come to some epiphany of sorts.

A small smile framed her face before she fixed her gaze on Yoshiki. "Kishinuma-kun, grab a bag and fill it with some clothes." Her tone was much gentler than it had been during their argument but it still carried the weight of authority that she used as the class rep of 2-9.

Yoshiki looked at her oddly before complying with her command. 'What is she thinking?' He wondered before entering his small bedroom which like the living room had also been nicely cooked. Peeking into his closet, which had been thankfully spared from the flames, he pulled out the backpack he had tossed in last night. Digging through the small closet he began stuffing his whatever clothes he had into the backpack before zipping it up and slinging it over his shoulder. Sadly the rest of his clothes in his cheap dresser had been lost to the fire. 'Thank god I keep my school uniform in my closet, those things aren't cheap.' He thought to himself with a relieved smile.

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><p>Ayumi remained rooted in her spot in the living room. Right now she was trying to think of a way to convince her parents of this insane idea. Hell even though she was the one who would be pushing for this she wasn't sure if she was completely convinced. 'If I can get my parents to agree then...then I'll be living with Kishinuma-kun for the foreseeable future.' Actually thinking that thought caused Ayumi's face to flush lightly.<p>

It was crazy, but it was also the only acceptable solution she could think of. Yoshiki couldn't live on the streets, Ayumi would never be able to sleep at night knowing that one of her friends was homeless. Also she was adamantly against the idea of him putting his education on the back burner so he could work more. And he couldn't stay at Satoshi's house as that would inconvenience both parties.

'But if Kishinuma-kun stays with me he won't have to drop school and he'll be able to keep working.' Also this turn of events could prove even more beneficial as she could possibly get him to improve his performance at school. Plus this arrangement wouldn't be permanent, just until Yoshiki could find an affordable place. 'How long could that take?' Ayumi wondered to herself. A week? Maybe two? A month at the most? Rubbing her temples the dark haired girl found herself curious as to how long she could handle living under the same roof as Yoshiki. Her twin tails swayed as she shook her head Ayumi swiftly banished the thought, she'd cross that bridge when she came to it.

The bedroom door opened with a drawn out creak and a few instances later the subject of her thoughts walked out with a backpack slung over his shoulder. Spotting her standing near his couch Yoshiki moved towards her. "Alright Shinozaki, what are we doing?" His query was met with a moment of silence.

Ayumi silently reevaluated his less than presentable appearance. To an outsider who didn't have any context they might make the insane mistake of thinking that she was bringing her thug boyfriend home for a disastrous 'meet the parents' scenario, ugh that was such an embarrassing thought. Not exactly the most ideal situation of taking a boy home for the first time, but this was serious. 'Plus it's not like that.' Ayumi reaffirmed in her mind. Yoshiki's appearance wasn't good, but that could work to their advantage considering her mother was a very sympathetic individual. "Just come with me." The blue haired girl told him before turning to lead him out of his apartment.

While he was locking the place up a sudden thought occurred to her. "Kishinuma-kun, do you have to work tonight?" She inquired hoping that they weren't on a tight schedule.

While locking the door Yoshiki turned to her curiously before nodding. "Yeah, I gotta be at the store by six." After saying that he pulled out the phone to check the time, it was ten till five. He had a little over an hour before his shift started. Taking note of the battery icon on his cellphone the ex-delinquent was relieved that his phone was about half charged. Thankfully he didn't use his phone for much, which was good considering he currently didn't have the means to keep the battery from dying. Pocketing his phone he set his attention back on the twin tailed girl.

Ayumi nodded, they were on a timer but it shouldn't prove to be too troublesome as long as they didn't drag their feet. "Okay then, that means we've got a time limit, so we'll have to be quick." The dark haired girl told him before breaking into a brisk walk towards the stairs. Ayumi silently thanked whatever deities that existed that both her parent's didn't work today. It wouldn't do to have Yoshiki wait at her house for three hours just to be possibly turned away.

Due to her vague statements Yoshiki found himself at a loss as to what his friend was planning. "Hold on Shinozaki." He called out while moving to catch up with Ayumi. "Quick for what? What's going on?" The blonde questioned her as they went down the stairs.

Narrowing her eyes slightly Ayumi made sure not to let Yoshiki see her expression. The twin tailed girl wasn't exactly ready to let Yoshiki in on her plan, at the very least he'd probably say she'd lost her mind. Though since she had chosen this course of action Ayumi wondered if this was a sign of her losing her sanity. "Just follow me." The twin tailed girl curtly told him.

Even if she did have some reservations about this course of action Ayumi knew that she'd do this to help her friend. If she told him her plan the twin tailed girl wasn't sure how Yoshiki would take this gesture. There was the possibility that he could take offense and accuse her of making him into a charity case. But if the blonde found out her plan while in the midst of trying to convince her parents than he'd have a hard time trying to argue. 'That's assuming Kishinuma-kun doesn't just storm out.' Ayumi mentally deadpanned.

Yoshiki wanted to argue with the twin tailed girl to tell him what she was up to. But decided that he didn't feel like pushing her. Whatever it was she was planning he'd find out soon enough, he could be patient. Shoving his hands into his pockets he released a weary sigh before silently trailing after the short statured girl.

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><p>They were an interesting sight as they walked down the fairly deserted streets. A small teenaged girl in a high school uniform with a blonde haired teen covered in ash and soot following in tow. Thankfully there weren't many people out and no one really paid them much mind. The walk passed on in silence until they came to stop at a house with the nameplate Shinozaki on it.<p>

It took somewhere near ten to fifteen minutes after leaving his apartment complex before they arrived at the house Yoshiki had never been to. But upon spotting the nameplate he was able to put two and two together. "Shinozaki?" He called out unsure of exactly what to say. Stopping in front of the house he tried to think of what to say but found himself at a blank as he needed a moment to process exactly what he was assuming.

Ayumi came to a halt in front of her home, Yoshiki behind her had also stopped walking. At his hesitant call she ignored him as a sudden thought came to mind. 'If my dad finds out he smokes than there's no way he'd be allowed to stay here.' Her face paled lightly at the thought of what she was about to ask of him. In the time she had known Yoshiki she had never gone this far in her attempts to better him, but this had to be done if she was going to get her parents to agree to let him stay.

Taking a deep breath she turned around to face the blonde. "Kishinuma-kun, please be honest with me. When was the last time you smoked?" She asked him in a tone that promised that she would try not to become judgmental or angry with his answer. Considering she was about to be crossing one hell of a line in a few moments, and not to mention a few more before the day was through, she didn't really have a right to become angry.

Yoshiki raised an eyebrow at the odd question but quickly caught onto why she might want to know. After a moment of debating whether or not to tell her he decided to answer her with the truth. "About a week ago, I had a cigarette." He admitted with averted eyes. "But I have been trying to quit." The blonde youth earnestly told her as he did feel some shame at not having quite kicked the habit and her knowing that he still struggled with it. Every now and then he just had the urge to smoke, hell this morning when he had been cleaning his apartment he had considered having a smoke but ignored the urge as he felt that his home had seen enough smoke for one day.

Ayumi had to fight off the urge to break into her usual tirade of the dangers of smoking and how it could lead to health problems in the future. Now was definitely not the time and for some reason she felt like if she did she'd be in the wrong since this was probably the first time she had ever seen him emit remorse for not having given up the habit. Taking a deep breath she then asked her next question. "Do you have any packs or lighters on you?" At Yoshiki's muted nod she held her hand out expectantly. "Give them to me so I can dispose of them. There's no way my parents will let you stay if they find out you smoke." Ayumi firmly told him.

And there it was. Ayumi was going to have him stay with her. Yoshiki made sure to keep from reading any deeper meaning into that gesture. Because he highly doubted that this alluded to any more than friendly feelings he wished she had. Even if he doubted she'd ever go this far to help just any other nobody out, he knew for a fact that she didn't see him as anything more than a friend. "Shinozaki, I appreciate this, really I do, but I'm not sure that this-."

"Kishinuma-kun, this is the only way." Ayumi said, derailing him. "You can't stay at Mochida-kun's because he lives too far away from where you work. And Morishige-kun is out for the same reason. I know that you'd never be able to ask Suzumoto-san or Shinohara-san for shelter. And Nakashima-san's out for both reasons." Ayumi listed off before taking a deep breath. "Kishinuma-kun I want to help. And I'm willing to possibly beg my parents for this, so at the very least let me try." Ayumi pleaded as her eyes glistened ever so slightly.

Yoshiki couldn't help but frown at seeing her eyes water. At the prospect of her tears he couldn't help but feel any desire to dissuade her slip away. It was just impossible to deny her, especially when she was once again crying on his behalf. It reminded him a little of the incident with Tsubota, she was going out of her way to keep him from failing. But this time the gesture was an even bigger one, one that he wouldn't dare forget. Heaving a sigh in resignation Yoshiki raised his hands in defeat. He couldn't fight her when she was crying, it was just not possible. 'The things Shinozaki can convince me of.' The blonde thought to himself with a rueful smile. If he could name one of his weaknesses it was Ayumi crying for him.

Reaching into his pocket he fished out a pack of cigarettes. "My last pack." He told her as her small hands accepted the item. "I bought it nearly two months ago and I did plan on this being my last pack. Been trying to wean myself off them." Yoshiki explained as he remembered the first time he managed to go a couple weeks without smoking. It hadn't been very pleasant, the withdrawal headaches were anything but enjoyable. 'But I'll manage.' For Ayumi he would do his best. "They're not good for me anyway, not to mention that they're just a waste of money. If there was ever a good time to quit I guess now's as good a time as any."

Ayumi nodded as she took the pack, upon taking a peek she saw that there were only a couple cigarettes left. Repressing a sigh she pocketed the pack, she'd toss them out sometime later. "No lighter?" She inquired after putting them away.

Yoshiki's hand instinctually went into the pocket that usually housed the Zippo lighter that he had taken from his father on the day he got kicked out. "Lighter's have more uses than just cigarettes." He told her simply enough. He was rather reluctant to get rid of it, in a way the lighter acted as a reminder for him. Plus it did also serve as his childish sort of way of having the last word to his father.

Ayumi nodded, that was acceptable considering she had used lighters for her candles, though she had a preference for matches. "Alright then." She said, deciding to allow him to keep his lighter, as they did have practical uses. "Just know that if I catch you smoking I won't forgive you. Not to mention my parents won't tolerate it one bit." The small statured girl told him with a firm look in her eye. At her friend's prompt nod she relented. "Okay, when we go in I'm going to ask them, don't say anything unless they address you. If I can at least convince my mom than we should have a pretty good chance." She explained knowing that her father, despite being a firm man, was terrible at fighting her mom.

With that said the two continued up to her house before Yoshiki stopped Ayumi as her hand landed on the doorknob. "One moment Shinozaki." He uttered before the twin tailed girl could open the door. He knew that she was willing to do this but...he couldn't help but still have some reservations.

Ayumi paused before turning back to him. "Hmm?" She sounded out as she tilted her head, wondering what he had to say. She really hoped that he wasn't going to try and dissuade her again.

"Its just..." Scratching his cheek Yoshiki sighed before meeting her blue eyes. "Are you sure about this? If you actually do manage to convince your parents than we're going to be seeing a lot of each other until I'm able to find an affordable apartment. Not that I'm ungrateful for this. Because really I am, honestly." Yoshiki hastily told her. On the inside he really was happy that she would actually be willing to go to this far to help him, more than she'd ever know. "But are you sure you're okay with this?" He questioned hoping that she would rethink this yet at the same time a small part of him hoped she'd go through with it. There was a part of him that was excited at the prospect of living under the same roof as Ayumi, but at the same time he couldn't help but feel some dread.

Their friendship was a complex one. She never hung out with him on a one on one basis, and most of the time he just seemed to annoy her with his thoughtless words and actions. Yoshiki would love for this experience, if her parents were actually crazy enough to let an unfamiliar boy live under the same roof as their teenage daughter, to be a pleasant one for their relationship. Even if it was just as friends he'd be happy if she didn't always shoot down or ignore any offers for them to hang out when Satoshi wasn't part of the equation. Yet at the same time Yoshiki couldn't help but worry about what this could do to their existing relationship. Even if she didn't view him the way he viewed her he hated the idea of their connection being severed.

Ayumi firmly shook her head as her blue eyes shone with determination. "Kishinuma-kun, if I wasn't so sure do you think I'd be willing to plead with my parents to let you stay?" She asked before quickly continuing on not allowing him to actually answer. "Sorry, but I'm going to do all I can to make sure you don't have to drop out of school or end up on the streets." The blue haired girl promised him as her expression morphed into a warm smile.

Deciding that the conversation had come to an end Ayumi turned around and opened the door. "I'm home!" She announced to the other residents of her house. 'Please let this go okay.' Ayumi thought nervously as she mentally prepared herself for the upcoming confrontation.

Hesitating slightly Yoshiki took a moment to look inside her house before squaring his shoulders and following Ayumi into her home. While he couldn't help but feel slightly intimidated at what was ahead he couldn't dare run. 'Not when Shinozaki is willing to do this.' If she could steel herself to try and convince her parents of this than he'd follow her. To him though it seemed highly unlikely that her parents would actually be okay with taking in some random boy. If they did say no than he didn't know what exactly he'd do, the only viable option left would be to be homeless for a while. Even if Ayumi didn't like that course of action she couldn't force her parents to take a stray in against their will. 'Shinozaki...good luck.' Yoshiki uttered in thought as the front door closed behind him.

* * *

><p>Well that ending was a tad cliché, but meh I've written worse. Anyways hope everyone enjoyed this first chapter, I sure enjoyed writing it. Be sure to review, let me know what you liked or disliked. Also once again thanks go out to IIonezerozero for proof reading this story, seriously I am not exaggerating just how much help he has given to this story, so give him some love and check out his stories.<p>

Also if anyone's curious Kimodameshi is the test of courage. Google it.

Not sure when the next chapter will be posted, but I'll try to have it out some time next week. So that's all for now.


	2. Chapter 2

To all of the people reading this story and reviewing thank you so much. I've been off the writing scene for quite some time and it's nice to see something new I post get so much positive attention. Please keep reading, I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Also a shout out to IIonezerozero for proof reading this story, once again thank you friend. To my readers if you like CP stories he's got some really good ones I'd recommend checking out.

Without further ado let's get this story going, enjoy.

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><p>Life at the Shinozaki's<p>

Chapter Two:

As Yoshiki entered the western style house he came to a pause as he allowed himself a moment to take in the interior. On the left after entering there was a waist high cupboard, one would put their shoes in upon entering the home. Further down is a central hallway with stairs at the very end. To the right Yoshiki spotted two doors, both are closed but he assumes that they are bedrooms. There's another door to his left that's also closed. The final door on the left is open and from what little Yoshiki can see it looks to be the entrance to the living room. The blonde can vaguely hear the sound of a TV.

Stepping forward the two teens quietly slipped off their shoes. Frowning lightly the shorter of the duo couldn't help but roll her eyes at her parents not reacting to her announcement that she was home. Usually if they were home when she returned from school and announced her presence they wouldn't react. And since Hinoe was away on a trip she'd just been going straight to her room only to be called for dinner hours later. Though for once she was a little thankful for their usual hands off style of parenting, as this would allow her a preemptive strike in presenting Yoshiki's case to let him stay.

Ayumi moved to enter the living room but came to a halt when she realized that the second pair of footfalls had not followed. Turning around she stifled a sigh as she caught her blonde friend's gaze fixated on a photo that had been taken nearly ten years ago at her older sister's graduation ceremony from Kisaragi Academy.

Sharp gray eyes scanned the photo, the four figures, three females and one male. The man wore glasses and was dressed in a plain blue polo shirt and khakis. He had dark hair, the same shade as Ayumi's, that was cut short. His facial expression was stern but seemingly beaming with pride at the young high school girl with long brown hair who was dressed in a similar sailor uniform that Ayumi was currently wearing.

The older woman of the group, obviously Ayumi's mother, looked like she could pass for an older version of her youngest daughter but with a softer expression. She was dressed in a nice light blue dress that stopped just above her knees. Her hair was tied up in a neat bun. And her lips were up in a kind smile as she stood naturally in the photo with her husband and children. Yoshiki knew that he couldn't deduce much from a picture, especially one taken from ten years ago, but he felt like she really had a motherly air about her.

Turning his attention to the girl dressed in the school uniform, Ayumi's older sister, he felt that she also held an air of kindness about her. Though it felt even gentler than her mother's, as though it was impossible for her to become angry. Her right hand rested gently upon the head of the youngest girl there, a seven year old Shinozaki Ayumi who had a toothy grin and was looking at her big sister out of the corner of her eye. Her hair was for once not in the twin tails he usually associated with her. 'So this is what Shinozaki looked like when she was younger.' Yoshiki found that she had been a pretty adorable kid. The large smile she bore made him wonder what her personality had been like ten years ago.

Coming to stand next to him Ayumi broke him out of his thoughts. "That's my older sister, Hinoe." His crush explained in a whisper as she came to the assumption that his gaze was focused on the girl dressed in the same type of uniform she wore. "Nee-chan graduated from Kisaragi." She further told him before sparing a quick glance towards the living room. Seeing that her parent's still had yet to notice the unfamiliar guest in their house but Ayumi knew that this was not the time to be stalling. "But now's not the time to talk about that. Let's hurry and convince my parents, the sooner we get this done the better."

Yoshiki, initially startled at Ayumi breaking into his thoughts, nodded in agreement before offering a casual shrug. "Sorry Shinozaki, this is the first time I've ever been here. I guess I was just curious." He admitted somewhat sheepishly.

Despite feeling slightly annoyed that he had stalled the upcoming confrontation with her parents, whether or not it was intentional, she knew that now was not the time to lecture him. "I know Kishinuma-kun, but this isn't the time to be distracted. Let's just get this over with." The blue haired girl reiterated before walking to the living room. He could experience the newness of being her house after she somehow convinced her parents to take him in.

Making a beeline for the living room Ayumi, without any warning, came to a stop in front of her parents with the blonde boy at her side. Upon seeing their daughter and the unfamiliar boy, the two adults looked at the teens oddly before Ayumi's mom found her voice. "Oh...welcome home Ayumi." Shinozaki Asuka greeted in confusion at her daughter and the ragged teenager. "Umm...Who's you're friend?" She inquired while studying him. His bright blonde hair was an obnoxious calling card of the stereotypical delinquent.

But Asuka wasn't the sort of person to judge a person based on their appearance. She wasn't fixated on his blonde hair or sharp gray eyes, no she was more concerned about the fact that he was covered in ash and soot. 'Poor boy looks as though he's been through a lot.' She thought already feeling sympathy for this unfamiliar boy.

Yoshiki felt like his throat might just close up as he finally came face to face with Ayumi's mom and dad. Her mother seemed nice enough, soft brown irises that emitted kindness coupled with a small smile. Her eyes and smile did somewhat put him at ease. Her hair was shoulder length and brown, it wasn't in the same bun style that had been in the photo from ten years ago.

When he looked between her and the twin tailed girl he found that the two did look pretty similar. 'Save for the eyes and hair Shinozaki's mother really could pass for her twin.' He didn't think he'd have much trouble getting along with her, if her appearances preluded to her personality any. 'Of course though, that's under the assumption that they actually agree to take me in.' The blonde ex-delinquent thought apprehensively as he felt a pair of hard eyes bore into him.

Shinozaki father's appearance would suggest that of a well dressed well mannered middle aged man. But when Yoshiki actually met the older man's stare he felt like he was locking eyes with someone who could beat him to a pulp. His eyes were the same shade of blue as Ayumi's, but they were even sharper than hers could ever hope to be. Yoshiki couldn't help but feel intimidated by the older man. 'Maybe that's because he's Shinozaki's father?' The blonde suggested to himself as it was a bit of a cliché for a boy to be intimidated by the father of the girl they liked.

Ayumi bit her lip, it was now or never. She needed to get this out before they had the time to come up with their own conclusions as to why she had just brought a boy to meet them for the first time. "Okaa-san, Otou-san." She started out slowly before taking a deep breath. "This is Kishinuma Yoshiki, he's a classmate of mine. And due to some recent unavoidable events he's essentially homeless and has nowhere else to go." She explained before swiftly coming to the question at hand. "Would it be alright if he could say here until he can find a new apartment?" She got out in one big go.

To her surprise she did feel a large weight lift itself from her shoulders. It was kind of like ripping a Band-Aid off, it hurt at first but once it was off you couldn't help but feel relieved. And to her immense relief her parents hadn't just cut her off in the middle of her explanation to tell her no. She wouldn't call it a good sign, but at the same time it wasn't a bad one. 'Or they could just be in shock that I would actually ask for something like this.' The twin tailed girl told herself knowing that could easily be the reason why they hadn't interrupted her.

Shinozaki Ayato had kept his sharp eyes on the unfamiliar boy throughout Ayumi's explanation. While he was flabbergasted that his youngest daughter would actually ask for something of this nature his first response wasn't to say no. "Why can't he live with his own parents?" Was what the glasses wearing man had instead said upon Ayumi finishing her explanation. This Kishinuma Yoshiki was obviously the same age as his daughter, considering he was in the same class as her, why weren't his parents taking care of him?

Yoshiki's eyes nearly popped out of his skull at the unexpected response that had just fallen out of the older man's mouth. In his mind the expected response of any normal father whose teenage daughter was asking for some boy to stay at their house should be "Over my dead body!" The blonde pursed his lips as he tried to rationalize why Ayumi's dad hadn't given what he felt was the proper response. 'Well Shinozaki isn't exactly what I'd call normal, maybe it's hereditary?' He considered as he reminded himself that his crush usually carried numerous candles on the off chance she could tell a scary story.

Ayumi managed to contain her smile easily enough. Her parents' initial reaction hadn't been outright rejection. There was a chance, no matter how slim, that she actually could convince them. Mentally preparing herself the dark haired girl quickly went over the right way to phrase her response. "Due to some family issue's he can't go home." Lying wasn't the best way to get her parent's to agree. Though Ayumi knew that she needed to utilize her words properly. The statement: He got kicked out, probably wouldn't earn any points from her parents.

Before Ayato could say anything his wife cut in. "Oh my, that's awful." Asuka said, her lips dropping into a sympathetic frown for the blonde boy. The brown haired woman had to wonder what sort of awful parents would kick their own child out before he was ready to face the world.

Looking between the two teens Ayato's eyes narrowed slightly as he felt that there was probably a bit more to this kid that his daughter wasn't telling him. Deciding to get a feel for the blonde haired youth he turned to address him. "Kishinuma, right?" He asked.

Swallowing a lump in his throat Yoshiki nodded. "Yes sir." He responded while trying to keep his nervousness in reign. For a number of reasons this older man made Yoshiki feel very uncomfortable and he didn't want to say the wrong thing to him so he'd try to keep his sentences short and respectful.

"Ayumi said that you were living by yourself until recently." The older man summarized before posing his question. "Would you mind telling me why you're apparently homeless now?" Ayato inquired while keeping any real emotion out of his voice. He didn't know a thing about this kid, and he wasn't sure how to react to him until he had something to work with. He couldn't help but frown though, out of the corner of his eye he could see Asuka giving the young man a look one might give to a kicked puppy.

Ayato wasn't very keen on the idea of some teenage boy staying here. But he knew because of his wife's sympathetic nature that it wasn't impossible that the young man might be staying under his roof. Ayumi's father had to fight from sighing at the headache his youngest daughter had just presented him.

Yoshiki nodded once again. "Of course." He cleared his throat before going into the explanation. "Because of the faulty wiring my apartment caught fire, now the place is in ruins and unlivable." The blonde explained, still feeling somewhat nervous.

Ayumi nodded with along her friend's explanation. She was pleased that for once Yoshiki wasn't speaking with his usual roughness, though she felt the need to add a little bit to his explanation. "But Kishinuma-kun can't afford a new place right now unless he drops out of school or lives on the streets for a while..." Ayumi said, allowing her sentence to hang in the air.

Ayato's turned his gaze to his daughter as she added in her extra bit. From besides him he could hear his wife's compassionate gasp. Despite it having not even been more than a couple minutes he could already see that his wife was slowly going on board with letting this kid in. Unfortunately for him Asuka was the type to take in a stray, who'd have thought his younger daughter would be the same?

While Ayato could feel some sympathy for the boy, his current situation obviously wasn't any fault of his own, he still rather not have another mouth to feed. Rubbing his chin he turned back to the boy, hoping that he might be able to find some loop hole that this kid could use so he didn't end up here. "Don't you have any other family you could go to?" Like an uncle or a cousin? His parents might not want him but that didn't mean that the rest of his family would have severed ties with him.

Yoshiki shook his head regrettably while holding in a sad sigh. "No sir. When my folks threw me out the rest of my family stopped talking to me. The only family I have left who wants anything to do with me is my sister, but she's a junior high school student." Yoshiki explained, thankfully some of the initial nervousness he felt had ebbed away. Even if he wanted to he and Miki could never convince his parents to take him back in, even temporarily. The bridge between him and his parents had been burnt two years ago when his father had shouted at him to 'get the fuck out of my house!' before throwing him out.

Normally Ayumi would chastise Yoshiki for how blunt he had been with his explanation. But for once his bluntness seemed to be working in his favor as her mother's expression became even more sympathetic. 'Maybe being tactless can be a positive in some situations.' She thought jokingly to herself.

Asuka nodded her head, hanging off of Yoshiki's words, if anyone could describe her expression it would be like that of a young girl who had just found a wounded puppy and wanted to take him in. "I'm going to go make some tea." The brown haired woman announced as Yoshiki finished speaking. Rising to her feet she went to the kitchen to set the kettle.

Ayato's left eye twitched ever so slightly at his wife's response. Having been with her for nearly thirty years he knew enough to see that she was already okay with taking in the young man. Ayumi's father knew that if he really didn't want Yoshiki to stay here he'd have trouble fighting the issue as Asuka would not be siding with him. His wife, despite her kind nature, was not an easy person to fight. If he wanted to keep the boy from staying here he'd have to find a reason that his wife would find unacceptable, or else he'd be alone.

Deciding to grill the kid for more information he turned back to Yoshiki. "So Kishinuma, you've been living on your own for two years. How have you managed to keep up your living conditions?" Maybe the kid robbed banks or something? 'As if I could be that lucky.' Ayato thought to himself with a scowl.

Yoshiki felt the intimidating atmosphere from earlier return as Ayato's piercing eyes rounded on him. Doing his best to steel his nerves against the well dressed man he held his ground against Ayumi's father. "I have a part time job at a music store nearby." He informed the older man.

Would it be fair to say that Ayato was slightly disappointed that the kid wasn't a bank robber or something that would warrant to immediately send him packing? As much as he wished to just tell the kid to hit the road he couldn't do that, Ayato knew that course of action wouldn't go over well with his daughter and wife. Glancing to the side he could see the top half of Asuka in the kitchen setting the kettle on the stove. If he tried to fight this with Asuka in their daughter's corner than he'd end up on the couch tonight, even if he did put his foot down and kick Yoshiki out on the curb.

While Ayumi's father was annoyed that he currently didn't have anything he could use against the blonde he could admit to being slightly impressed by the kid. Not many teenagers were able to handle the money their parents gave them, the fact that this one had been managing his own responsibly for two years was commendable. "Part time, huh? About how much do you make?" He questioned, a little curious.

Finding the question somewhat unexpected Yoshiki hesitated in his answer but soon found his voice. "I get paid a little over minimum wage." The blonde told him before adding. "But I get a lot of overtime." Most of what he earned in his usual paycheck was just enough to cover his rent and utilities and what he got from overtime fronted his groceries.

From the kitchen the sound of a whistling kettle could be heard. Ayato tapped his fingers on his pants leg as he knew that once his wife served refreshments and sat back down he'd be vastly outnumbered. Asuka would have little problem with allowing Yoshiki to stay for awhile, so far the boy had come off as respectful and proven to be a hard worker. Deciding to pry a little more Ayato decided to see if there possibly was any other course of action the boy could take that didn't involve taking shelter at their house.

"Don't you have any friends you could stay with?" He inquired before continuing in thought. 'A friend who's not my daughter.'

Ayumi felt the slight bit of tenseness as her father grilled Yoshiki. It was obvious that her dad was prying for anything he could use to keep the ex-delinquent from staying. The twin tail haired girl was thankful that for once Yoshiki was being somewhat smart with his words. 'Just a little more.' The blue haired girl thought as she made a subtle glance to the kitchen to see her mom pouring the tea.

Scratching his cheek Yoshiki offered the man a regretful smile. "Unfortunately the only friend I could ask to take me in is Satoshi, another classmate of ours, but he lives on the other side of the city. If I were to stay with him I'd have to quit my job and then I'd just be freeloading on him." The blonde teen explained sheepishly.

Biting the inside of his cheek Ayato refrained from groaning in annoyance. This was just another bit that his wife and daughter would use against him if he told Yoshiki no. Even he knew it wasn't good for the guy to lose his job and mooch off of someone.

Seeing that her dad was slowly being backed into a corner Ayumi went on the offensive. "Kishinuma-kun won't be here for long. Once he finds a place he can afford he'll be gone, he's a hard worker so he won't be freeloading off of us."

Yoshiki looked to the shorter girl in surprise. 'Shinozaki thinks I'm a hard worker...' He couldn't help but feel a slight thump in his chest at hearing the girl he likes claiming him to be a hard worker. Remembering that now was really not the time to get caught up in this feeling Yoshiki reluctantly pushed it away. "Shinozaki-san, if you let me stay here I promise I won't be a burden. I'd be more than happy to help out around, I'll even pay rent if I have to." Yoshiki told him without thinking.

Ayumi wanted to sigh in annoyance at Yoshiki's readily agreement to pay rent. While it was a good booster for getting her dad to possibly agree without a fight she'd rather it be used as more of a last resort, not with them already seemed to have her father in a corner. 'Trust Kishinuma-kun to run his mouth without thinking of the consequences.' The blue haired teen thought to herself, a little annoyed, even if she knew that it'd be within her father's right to charge her friend rent. Well whatever they couldn't retract it now or it'd look bad if they did that.

Ayato did look slightly surprise at Yoshiki's readily agreement to pay rent if necessary. While his family was pretty well off if Yoshiki did stay here he'd be using resources of theirs. Food, water, and electricity would all add up, it'd definitely be within his right to charge rent. It was at that moment that his wife returned with the refreshments.

After placing a tray of four mugs on the coffee table in front of the couch Asuka seated herself. The four took their respective mugs, Yoshiki uttering a small, "Thanks." before taking a sip of the hot liquid. Asuka offered a kind smile at the blonde's appreciation.

Sighing Ayato took a gulp of his tea, allowing the scalding liquid to go down his throat. Looking between his daughter and wife he realized that, if he was dead set on refusing to let the kid stay, he'd have to fight tooth and nail. And even if he did win he'd probably be in the doghouse with Asuka for a little while. Ayumi's father realized that either way he'd lose something, and while he wasn't for the idea of taking Yoshiki in, he'd rather not deal with his wife's passive aggressive ways for the next couple weeks as she expressed her disdain about kicking that poor boy out on the street. Shaking his head Ayato made the decision to accept his defeat with grace.

Though there was one last thing. Depending on the reactions between his daughter and this boy would decide whether Ayato was willing to sleep on the couch or not. "Kishinuma, tell me." He commanded before quickly moving on to his question. "What exactly is your relationship with my daughter?" He asked with all of the subtleness of a sledgehammer on the battlefield. At seeing the blonde's face become lightly red he couldn't help but frown.

At the older man's question it felt like his heart had just jumped up his esophagus. He couldn't find his voice to deny any more than friendly feelings he felt for the small statured girl standing next to him. Even if he did know what the correct answer was the question just too unexpected for him to respond properly.

Ayumi sputtered as she was also in a similar state of embarrassment. Though her reason for being flustered was different than Yoshiki's. No one would ever dare imply her and Yoshiki as a couple, hell she wouldn't even consider it. Even if her opinion of the ex-delinquent was a lot better than it had been when she first met him Ayumi had zero interest in him that way. Plus as far as she was concerned he wasn't very reliable, the only guy Ayumi felt she'd be able to lean on would be Satoshi. Despite his somewhat skittish nature he was pretty dependable.

Willing away any feelings of mortification she had Ayumi quickly voiced the platonic nature of their relationship. "Kishinuma-kun and I are not like that." She honestly answered in a confident tone. If anything their relationship wasn't all that close, they were more or less friends because of their relationship to Satoshi. The two never hung out without the involvement of at least one of their other friends. Plus they only referred to each other by family names and they never even texted each other.

When Ayumi realized that she was the only one who had voiced any sort of answer to her father's unexpected question she sent a quick glance to Yoshiki who looked like a deer in the headlights. 'Say something!' She thought to herself while glaring at him. Almost as if being spurred by her thoughts Yoshiki nodded vigoriously at her assessment of their relationship. 'Geeze, answer quicker next time.' The blue haired teen thought to herself with a silent huff at Yoshiki's unreliableness.

Ayato looked between the two teens. He wasn't a fool, he could tell when a guy liked a girl. Yoshiki's reaction pretty much screamed that he held more than friendly feelings for his youngest daughter. But at Ayumi's insistence to their relationship not being like that he relented. He trusted his daughter's answer. And he had the distinct impression, due to his daughter's obvious obliviousness to the blonde's feelings, that the young man had no intention of making his feelings known to her.

Might as well get down to business. "Kishinuma, how long do you think it'll take for you to find a new place?" Ayato inquired to the young man.

The blonde ex-delinquent was thankful for the ample amount of time he had been allowed to regain his voice. "I'm not completely sure, it depends on what I can find and afford. But I'm going to be aggressively looking on days that I don't have school and work." He paused for a second as he tried to remember how long it took for him to find his last apartment. 'I was in that park for almost three weeks...' He thought. "Maybe a couple weeks, a month at the most." He answered confidently.

Ayato nodded in consideration before rubbing his chin with his index finger and thumb. After a moment he decided his answer. "Alright then, you can stay till the start of summer vacation. But after that you're out, whether or not you've found a place is not my problem." Ayato explained before sitting back.

Ayumi couldn't help but feel the wave of victory wash over her. She had done it, she had convinced her parents to temporarily take her friend in, and without much of a fight. He wouldn't have to drop out of school or live on the streets, even if he wasn't her closest friend she couldn't contain the smile knowing that she had helped him. 'Thank goodness.' She thought to herself knowing that they could rest easy.

Yoshiki was amazed that Ayumi's father had actually agreed to accommodate him. Yoshiki nodded and smiled in gratitude before bowing forward. "Thank you so much, Shinozaki-san, I'm very grateful for this." He expressed honestly appreciative of this.

Ayato nodded in response. "Don't thank me yet. Since I decided to be nice and give you six weeks to find a place I expect 15,000 yen. You don't need to pay now, but I hope to see it all by the time you leave." He told his new houseguest flat out not mincing words.

Yoshiki nodded, not letting the blunt statement dampen him, it was understandable since he was another mouth to feed. He didn't want to mooch off of them if he could help it, maybe he'd take to eating out while staying with the Shinozaki family.

Standing up Asuka walked over to the boy. "Nice to meet you Kishinuma-kun, I'm Shinozaki Asuka, you can just call me Asuka or if you want I wouldn't mind if you called me Okaa-san." She said with a teasing smile at Yoshiki's flustered face at her suggestion. "You've already met my husband, Shinozaki Ayato." She said gesturing to her husband who had returned his attention to the TV.

Yoshiki willed away the redness from his cheeks as he tried to respond. "Uh nice to meet you, Asuka-san." He said after clearing his throat and making sure to bring no attention to her offer to call her Okaa-san. That was just way too much for him.

Asuka's smile widened slightly at Yoshiki's reaction. Already she liked him, his reactions were cute. Turning to her daughter, whose face was also lightly red due to her teasing, she addressed Ayumi. "Ayumi, you should probably show Kishinuma-kun to Hinoe's room so he can get settled in." She told her daughter while taking a peek at the bag slung over Yoshiki's shoulder.

Ayumi found herself unable to speak at her mother's teasing comment. 'Am I going to survive Kishinuma-kun being here?' She thought to herself in annoyance at seeing how her mother had taken a liking to her ex-delinquent friend. At her mother's suggestion she nodded mutely before turning to her friend. "This way, Kishinuma-kun." She said adding nothing else as she didn't feel comfortable exchanging many words with him right now.

Yoshiki wordlessly followed his crush, leading into a hall they passed a door before coming to stand at another closed door, this one being closer to the entrance and across from another closed door. The blonde assumed that this would be his temporary room. 'So this is Shinozaki's sister's room?' He thought as he looked at the closed door. Other than a ten year old photo he had no idea what sort of person she was.

While Ayumi was slightly mortified at recent events she was still happy that she had done this. It was a good feeling to know that she was helping someone in need. Despite the uncertainness of what the next six weeks would entail the twin tail haired girl knew that she wouldn't regret her decision to help Yoshiki. Deciding that she would pretend like her mother's teasing didn't happen she lead him to her sister's room, opening the door she turned to him. "This is my older sister's room. Since she's on a trip and won't be back for a while you'll be using her room. Don't touch anything." Ayumi's tone held a certain sharpness in it at her final statement. .

Upon looking into the room Yoshiki had to wonder what sort of person Ayumi's older sister was. The room looked like it belonged to an old archeologist. There were many aged items scattered about, such as the globe on the table in the middle. Next to the globe was a candle holder that appeared to be much older than the ones Yoshiki saw Ayumi carry around. He could see what appeared to be a decorative letter opener laid in front of a dressing mirror that was attached to a dresser. Glancing to the far left Yoshiki noticed a wooden writing desk all by its lonesome. And to the far right of the room was a bed with a green comforter. The circular table that had the globe and candle holder was placed dead center in the middle of the room, there was even a white table cloth on it and a couple chairs around it.

Stepping into the bedroom a light hint of incense tickled Yoshiki's nose as he caught a whiff of it. 'With a room like this I can only imagine what sort of person Shinozaki's sister is like.' The blonde thought to himself as he turned to face Ayumi who had started speaking again. He had missed the first half of what she said but luckily managed to catch the end of her sentence and realize what she was talking about.

"-room is the next one over. And the bathroom is right across from this room." Ayumi explained to her blonde haired friend who nodded at each sentence to convey that he had been listening. "The towels are in the linen closet. Any questions?" The twin tail haired girl finished her spiel with a question.

Yoshiki paused a moment to let her words soak in. Shaking his head he offered a slight smile. "No, I'm good." After another moment's pause he started again. "Shinozaki." He called out as she started to turn to leave the room. "Again thanks for this, I really owe you." The blonde teenager told her.

Ayumi turned to face him and nodded. Despite her friendship with the ex-delinquent being an odd one it did feel her with a sort of sense of accomplishment that she had managed to keep him from having to live on the streets. "Don't mention it, Kishinuma-kun. Just be sure to be on the lookout for a place you can afford and I expect you to keep up on your school work- Oh!" Ayumi exclaimed as she suddenly remembered the very reason why she had gone to Yoshiki's apartment in the first place. "I nearly forgot." She said while digging through her school bag to fish out the assignments that she had brought for her blonde friend. "Mochida-kun asked me to bring these to you. That was the reason I went to your apartment in the first place." Ayumi explained before passing over the stack of papers.

'Uh...my home just recently caught fire, can I be excused?' Is something he would have liked to have said. But considering the trouble Ayumi had just gone through for him he decided that he'd bite his tongue and just accept the homework without complaint. "Thanks," He said while taking the stack of assignments from his crush. 'Good thing Satoshi sent Shinozaki to me today.' The blonde ex-delinquent thought as he placed his missed assignments on the bed.

If Satoshi had been the one to see his apartment in such a sorry state the brown haired teen would have been more than happy to offer his best friend a place to stay. But Yoshiki would have refused his offer due to the inconvenience it would put on both of them. And due to Satoshi's timid nature he would have backed down and Yoshiki would be without a roof over his head.

Suddenly Yoshiki remembered that despite recent events he still had to work. 'Crap!' He thought before quickly pulling out his phone. It was going on 5:40, he still had time to get to the music store, thankfully it was close to his old apartment building, just on the other side of the park. Though if he didn't leave now he'd have to sprint to just be on time. Looking up at Ayumi, who had taken note of Yoshiki's unexpected franticness, he smiled apologetically. "Sorry Shinozaki, but I have to get going now if I don't want to be late." The blonde explained. 'Though I should probably get changed...' He thought while glancing down at his rough appearance.

Ayumi nodded at Yoshiki before moving to leave the room. She didn't want to make him late for work after all. "Of course Kishinuma-kun. I'll see you later." She said before closing the door to Hinoe's, now Yoshiki's temporary, room. After that she went to her room to change out of her school uniform and relax. Today had been a bit of a curve ball, and now that she was alone she reflected on how tiring this day had been.

Dropping his bag to the floor Yoshiki quickly ruffled through it before pulling out a black T-shirt and a pair of cargo pants. After getting dressed the blonde quickly checked his appearance in the dresser mirror, he still looked pretty rough. There were splashes of soot in his hair and on his face but he didn't have time to wash up. 'Oh well.' Nothing he could do about it now. He quickly grabbed the items he had in his dirty pants' pockets, keys, wallet, lighter, and phone before shoving them into his pockets.

Quickly making his way out of the room he passed Ayumi's parents who were engrossed in the TV show they were watching. From what little Yoshiki caught of the screen it looked to be some insect documentary. Though Asuka did notice him out of the corner of her eye and offer him a small wave when she realized why he might be in a hurry. Giving a slight nod Yoshiki shoved his feet into his shoes and was out the door before breaking into a light jog.

It was around eight o'clock when Ayumi came to the realization that Yoshiki wouldn't be getting off work until late. Which meant that she'd have to wait up to let the ex-delinquent in. 'What time did Kishinuma-kun say he got off?' The dark haired girl thought to herself as she paused her game. Sighing she put her PSP down and grabbed her cell phone from her nightstand. Without thinking putting much thought into it she sent him a text.

{What time do you get off?}

Ayumi muttered the message to herself before pushing the send button. After sending the message she placed the phone on her lap, in case he answered promptly. After a couple moments of silence she came to a startling conclusion.

'Wait a second. Isn't this the first time I've ever sent Kishinuma-kun a text message?' The blue haired girl thought to herself with a slight bit of surprise. Despite having had his contact info for nearly a month she never had to or even thought of texting him. Whenever there was a reason to contact him she'd usually just send the message to Satoshi. Or on the off chance that she actually did need to contact him she'd just call his number, but that was rare.

Thinking about it Ayumi was surprised at how little she thought about her ex-delinquent friend outside of school. Unless Satoshi was around she pretty much never saw him outside of school. 'Though that's going to be changing.' The blue haired girl thought to herself feeling a hint of nervousness at how she would be able to deal with living under the same roof as Yoshiki for a month and a half. When she thought about it logically she and Yoshiki were like oil and water. They just didn't mix, he was a blunt former delinquent and she was a studious class rep, how the hell had they ever become friends in the first place?

She stopped him from hitting that teacher in their first year and to her that was it. She didn't associate with him until next year when Satoshi brought him into their group of friends. 'If it wasn't for Mochida-kun we probably wouldn't talk at all.' Ayumi came to the simple conclusion that they were friends by association.

A knock on her door broke the dark haired girl out of her thoughts. "Ayumi, dinner." Her mom's soft voice sounded on the other side of her door.

"Okay." Ayumi responded before putting her PSP to sleep mode and hopping off her bed to join her parents for a, mostly, quiet dinner. The blue haired girl frowned as she knew her dad would just silently eat dinner while her mom would ask her questions about how her day went and how school was. She didn't hate her parents, not one bit, but she didn't really like being around them too much. Though that was sort of how she felt about most adults.

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><p>Plopping down in a plastic chair in the break room Yoshiki sighed. Despite it being Friday the night was creeping by at a crawl. But finally it was his first ten minute break, and he could relax for a little. Glancing up Yoshiki's eyes absently watched the small TV fixed to the wall, some action movie was playing, one he didn't know the name too.<p>

"Hey Kishinuma, how's it going?" A man of twenty-four asked while pulling out the chair from across the blonde youth and being seated.

Yoshiki looked over at the older man. Kanzaki Kensuke was the assistant manager at the music store, and the person he usually had to answer to. The ex-delinquent found that he rather liked the older man as he was a fairly easy going guy. "Not much Kanzaki-senpai, just wish this slow night would end already." He said simply before casually returning his eyes to the TV.

Suddenly he felt his phone vibrated from his pants pocket. Yoshiki looked down in surprise before fishing his rarely used cell phone out. The only person he could think of who might be texting him at this time of night was Satoshi. So it was understandably a surprise when he saw the sender listed as Shinozaki. 'Since when does Shinozaki text me?' The blonde thought to himself in surprise. The only two text that he had sent her after getting her cellphone number had been ignored. And after that he'd just assumed that she wasn't the type to casually text people so he had refrained from texting her.

Kensuke shrugged casually at the blonde. "No kidding, haven't seen a customer in nearly two hours. Wish we could just close already..." He muttered before leaning back in his seat. His dark eyes quickly scanned the youth's appearance. "So hey, I've been meaning to ask you, what's up with you tonight? Why do you look like you just saved a kid from a burning building?" He asked with a chuckle.

Yoshiki chuckled lightly at Kensuke's question. "It's nothing huge, just had a little fire at my apartment, no one got hurt." The blonde told his boss as he typed a response to Ayumi.

{I get off at midnight.}

"Wow, that sucks." The older man commented before placing a small container on the table separating them. "But speaking of burning stuff you want some spaghetti?" He asked hopefully as Yoshiki closed his phone.

Looking over at his senpai Yoshiki raised an eyebrow before shaking his head. "No thanks Kanzaki-senpai, but I think I'd sooner pay for the surgery to have my tongue removed before I ever try your wife's cooking again." The ex-delinquent told Kensuke with a chuckle before leaning back in his chair.

Looking crestfallen Kensuke sighed as he opened the container and pulled out some chopsticks. "Well I tried..." He muttered before slowly starting to eat the food himself. "I don't know how she does it..." Yoshiki heard the assistant manager mutter as he somehow managed to consume his wife's cooking.

Despite being pretty damn hungry Yoshiki really wasn't desperate enough to try anything made by Kensuke's wife. He still remembered having to rinse his mouth out when the older man had pawned his wife's terrible cooking onto him during his first week working at the music store. 'During the lunch break I'll probably just run down to the nearby store and pick up a sandwich or something.' He decided while ignoring his stomach's painful cry for food. Just two more hours.

Roughly five minutes passed before Yoshiki's assist. manager actually managed to finish the terrible food. 'He tried eating slowly at first, then he just wolfs it down to try and get it over with fast. Not sure which method is better.' The blonde thinks to himself as his supervisor closes the container.

Kensuke sighed, his stomach already hurting, before standing up. "Well Kishinuma I gotta get going. My break's almost over." He told the younger worker before moving to leave.

Yoshiki nodded but called out after the older man. "Hey, Kanzaki-senpai who's closing up with me tonight?" He asked curiously hoping that he wouldn't be paired up with someone annoying.

Kanzaki Kensuke glanced over his shoulder before shaking his head. "Sorry Kishinuma, but you're on your own tonight. Konishi was supposed to close with you tonight but he called in." The assistant manager informed the blonde who sighs in relief at not actually being stuck with Konishi.

Yoshiki nodded before setting his eyes back on the TV again. 'If Konishi keeps calling in he's going to get fired.' The blonde thought to himself, his opinion of the other worker not being very high. Yoshiki never called in, even when he was sick he'd still suck it up and come to work, he had to. 'But hey if that idiot gets fired then that's more hours I can ask for.' The blonde thought to himself.

His break ended quickly and before he knew it he was manning the register again. At nearly eight thirty no costumer's were coming in and time dragged on slowly. After what felt like forever the blonde teen clocked out to take his thirty minute meal break and hustled down to the nearby store where he picked up a sandwich and a soda.

After coming back to his place of work he made a beeline for the now empty break room. Right now there were only three workers there, including him and Kensuke. And in about an hour he'd be the only one there to close up shop. 'Such is the life of a late night closer...' He thought before wolfing down his sandwich. Yoshiki's stomach cried out in thanks as it was finally allowed the joy of seeing food, a pleasure it had been denied for over twenty-four hours.

After scarfing down his sandwich Yoshiki distinctively remembered that he had felt his phone vibrate from within in his pocket while he had been working. Wiping whatever crumbs off him he reached into his pants pocket and fished out his phone.

{Okay, I'll be up when you get back. Just text me once you're here and I'll open the door for you.}

'I could get used to this...' The blonde thought to himself as he could finally say that he got Ayumi to text him. 'Even if it did take my apartment catching fire.' He thought jokingly before shaking the thought of his burnt home away. He decided to send a quick reply as he doubted he'd be able to get Ayumi to text him back and forth, at the very least from now on maybe she wouldn't go to Satoshi as the middle man to send messages to him outside of school.

{Ok.}

He flipped his phone close before reaching for his can of soda and taking a swig of it. He took a glance at the TV to see it was playing some martial arts comedy movie now. Yoshiki shook his head as he found the movie to be too cheesy for him. Coming to a decision the teen pulled out his phone and set an alarm to go off in about eight minutes, when his break would end, before pocketing it. Closing his eyes he sat back in his seat and allowed his body to relax.

The end of his thirty minute break came in no time. Before Yoshiki realized it his phone was blaring and it was time to get back to work. Shutting off the alarm the blonde quickly went to go clock back in and returned to his station. The rest of his night passed by slowly and after a long hour and a half of working it was time to close up. Locking the door Yoshiki shoved his hands into his pocket and began the trip back to the Shinozaki residence.

At about twenty after midnight he texted the twin tailed girl that he was outside her house. A couple minutes after he sent the text he heard the sound of the front door unlocking and was greeted by Ayumi, who was no longer in her school uniform. She stepped aside to let him enter the house.

"Be quiet, my parents are sleeping." She told him as she closed the door behind him.

Slipping off his shoes Yoshiki nodded in affirmative. "Got it," He told her tiredly before the two silently moved into the main hallway.

Before they could pass the kitchen Ayumi stopped the blonde. "Oh by the way, my mom made you a plate of the leftovers, it's in the fridge wrapped in foil if you're hungry." She informed the blonde who again nodded tiredly.

Yoshiki stifled a yawn at his crush explanation. While he was hungry and thankful that Ayumi's mother would think of him he wasn't really in the mood to eat right now, at the moment he was more tired than hungry. "I'll eat it tomorrow." He told the blue haired girl before they went towards the hallway where her and his temporary rooms were.

Ayumi nodded at her friend. Yoshiki did look pretty tired after working he probably just wanted to find a bed and collapse. She could understand the sentiment. "Okay, goodnight Kishinuma-kun." She said before leaving him to go into her room.

Yoshiki nodded and raised his hand in goodbye. "Night," He said before a loud yawn slipped out of his mouth. Blushing in slight embarrassment he quickly slipped into Hinoe's room. He didn't even bother changing out of his clothes or getting under the covers, the moment he saw the bed he fell on it and closed his eyes. Before he knew it he was out like a light.

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><p>Once again thank you to all the people who reviewed, or followed this story, and even to those who simply read it in passing, thanks.<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

Happy single awareness day to all of my readers! XD

Anyways I am so happy at how much you guys seem to be liking this story. I'll admit as I've been writing it, the further along I go i always wonder "Is this still good?" or "Am I starting to lose focus?" But perhaps I'm just my worst critic. Anyways I hope you all enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Also special thanks to IIonezerozero for once again proof reading this story and being patient with me. If you guys haven't checked out any of his stories I'd recommend it. Also he just posted a new story based on an idea that we conversed over earlier, and it's really good so far.

With the AN out of the way, please enjoy.

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><p>Life at the Shinozaki's<p>

Chapter Three:

Blinking with uncertainty gray eyes peek up at the unfamiliar, and slightly blurry, ceiling. 'Where the hell am I?' Kishinuma Yoshiki internally wonders as the fog of sleep slowly leaves him. His vision slowly became more focused and he's able to make out the odd room he is currently in. Turning to his left he took note of a round table with a dusty old globe on it next to an antique candle holder. In his opinion the only thing missing from that scene is a crystal ball and crazy woman with a pointy hat asking if he'd like to know his future.

After a few false starts Yoshiki recalled the events of the previous day. 'That's right...' His mind caught up. 'I'm staying at Shinozaki's.' The blonde thought to himself, his head still trying to wrap itself around that fact. Turning over to his side he paused when he felt something ruffle under his weight.

*Crumple, crumple*

Frowning in confusion Yoshiki propped himself up to see what he had rolled over. Underneath him is a bunch of loose leaflets of paper. Picking one up at random he scanned the contents. 'Oh that's right.' Yoshiki thought, remembering how he had just plopped the assignments onto the bed after receiving them from Ayumi. Looking at the numerous problems on what he assumed to be his math homework the blonde couldn't help but feel a slight headache creeping up on him. 'I'll deal with you later.' He thought to himself before quickly gathering up the papers into a messy pile and placing them to the side.

Searching for his cellphone he realized that he never even took it out of his pocket before going to bed. Pulling and flipping it open he checked the time. '7:43AM.' For a Saturday morning that's a little early, he usually doesn't wake up till about nine. Despite the desire to just sleep in Yoshiki felt as though that wouldn't be right. Especially since he's staying with Shinozaki's family who he didn't want to be a burden on. Ayato may have given him a month and a half but Yoshiki didn't want to take advantage of their kindness, and he knew the best way to keep from doing that was to find a place as soon as possible.

Today he'd take the proper first steps to finding a new place. 'Okay first things first, I should run back to my place and get what's left. Also I have to return the key to the landlord.' The blonde mentally listed as he slid off the bed and kneeled in front of his backpack to assess what little he did have on him.

After a few minutes of rifling through all he could find inside were a couple days' worth of clothes, a text book he had brought home from school, and the second hand PSP Miki had gotten him for Christmas last year. Despite rarely ever playing any games on it he still kept it in pristine condition because it was a gift from his little sister. 'Miki...' The blonde muttered in thought as he allowed his mind to drift into thoughts about his younger sister. He'd couldn't keep what happened to his home from her, she'd find out either way and it was better she learned it from him.

Sighing in resignation Yoshiki fished out his phone again and dialed her number. When Miki didn't pick up and he found himself being sent to voicemail the ex-delinquent wasn't too surprised in the least. His sister wasn't an early riser, so he had doubted she'd be up at this time on a Saturday. 'Eh, I'll just leave her a message.' The blonde decided as he waited for the prerecorded message to come to a close. At the beep he started speaking.

"Hey Miki, sorry I haven't called you in the last couple days. Some stuff's been going on..." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Anyways I'm just calling to tell you not to come over for dinner tomorrow. My apartment caught fire and I'm not staying there anymore, but I'm okay so don't worry." He hastily explained as he didn't want to worry her. "..." Yoshiki hesitated for another moment as he pondered whether or not he should say anymore. At feeling as though he had said all he needed to say he decided to just end the message there. "I'll talk to you later." He promised before pressing the end call button.

Tossing his phone onto the bed he bent back down and started going through his bag again. Deciding to empty it he put his clean clothes into a pile separate from the dirty ones, plus he also placed his text book and PSP on the bed near his phone. Standing back up Yoshiki caught site of his appearance in the dresser mirror. 'Man, I look like crap.' He internally thought while taking in his appearance. There were still splashes of black in his hair and on his face. Deciding that he best get cleaned up he grabbed some clothes from the clean pile, a red T-shirt and a pair of jeans. Clean clothes in hand Yoshiki made his way to the bathroom across from Hinoe's bedroom.

The door closed quietly with a soft click and Yoshiki glanced down the hallway. He couldn't hear any activity from any of the other rooms so he came to the conclusion that the others were probably still asleep. Tip toeing to the bathroom he softly opened the door and shut it behind him before turning around to take in the bathroom. It was a lot cleaner and more spacious than his had been. There was a shower/bathtub combo, a nice sink next to a toilet, and the linen closet was adjacent to the shower.

Placing his clothes to the side he grabbed a fresh towel from the closet and put it on a rack before turning the shower on. Extending his hand he breathed out a content sigh when he felt the warm water hit his hand. Stripping off his clothes he quickly jumped in the shower before he began scrubbing the two days' worth of dirt and grime from his body. When it came time to wash his hair he was a little hesitant to use the shampoo that was obviously Ayumi's. Would it be weird that their hair smelled the same? After a moment of consideration Yoshiki shook away the thought and used the soap, he'd rather be smelling nice than like crap. Plus he wanted that damn soot out of his hair.

Once he was finished with his shower Yoshiki turned off the water and got out. He definitely felt much better after finally getting cleaned up. Once he finished drying off the blonde quickly dressed in his clean clothes and exited the bathroom with the dirty ones wrapped in a bundle under his arm. As he quietly shuffled over to his temporary room he could make out the noise of someone moving about in the kitchen. Perhaps someone was in the middle of making breakfast? Disregarding that tidbit Yoshiki re-entered his temporary room. Closing the door behind him he stalked over to the far right of the room and dropped his dirty clothes into the pile before seating himself on the bed.

Flipping open his cell phone he checked to see if he had any messages sent to him in the previous half hour since he had last used his phone. 'Nothing.' He thought to himself while running a stray hand through his still damp hair. The blinking icon on the top right of the screen caught his attention. His cellphone was near dead, he'd have to charge it soon. 'Maybe I should ask Shinozaki if I can use her charger.' The blonde ex-delinquent considered the notion before placing his phone back down.

Releasing a sigh he stood back up and exited the room. Upon making his way to the living room the sounds from the kitchenette became clearer. From the living room he could spot all three members of the Shinozaki residence in the kitchen. Ayumi, clad in pajamas with her hair down, and her farther who was dressed for work were both seated at the table. Yoshiki had to do a double take when he saw the girl he liked still in her sleepwear with her hair down. 'She looks really cute with her hair down...' Other than the photo he had caught a glimpse of yesterday he had always seen the short statured girl with her hair tied in twin tails. While he did think her usual hair style suited her it was nice to see Ayumi with her hair loose.

Yoshiki realized that he had been staring at the dark haired girl for too long. Thankfully none of the people in the kitchen had noticed him yet. Deciding to make his presence known the blonde tried to act natural as he greeted the three. "Good morning." He said as politely as he could manage. Usually he was blunt and tactless, but Yoshiki was anything but ungrateful. For some reason the ex-delinquent felt like it'd be pretty tasteless to not show Ayumi's parents due respect. Especially since they had agreed to house him for the next six weeks. 'Also Shinozaki wouldn't be too happy if I said something stupid.' The blonde thought to himself certain the occult loving girl would be very upset if he came off as rude or disrespectful to her parents.

Dark blue eyes widening to the size of saucers Ayumi's head whipped to catch sight of the blonde standing at the entrance to the kitchen. Having only woken up moments ago the pajama clad girl had momentarily forgotten that she had somehow convinced her parents to take in her blonde classmate. In her half asleep state she had assumed that the person in the shower was Hinoe since she usually woke up early to shower. But it was all coming back to her, of course her sister was still on her trip and Yoshiki was using Hinoe's room.

Her face flushed lightly at knowing that someone from her class, a boy no less, had seen her in her sleep clothes. Ayumi wished she had thought to get cleaned up or at least change out of her pajamas before coming to the kitchen. While this wasn't as mortifying as say Satoshi had seen her dressed like a slob, the short statured girl would rather none of her classmates or friends saw her in this state. Fighting away the initial embarrassment of being seen with her appearance so unkempt Ayumi greeted her ex-delinquent friend. "Good morning." She uttered while the blonde fully entered the kitchen.

There were only two places to sit at the kitchen, either next to Ayumi or Ayato. It was a pretty easy choice for Yoshiki where to sit, sliding the chair next to his crush the ex-delinquent quietly seated himself. Across from him the older man offered a quiet hum of acknowledgment to the new houseguest. Yoshiki quietly glanced at the older man who had his nose stuck in a newspaper.

From her place at the stove Shinozaki Asuka turned around to greet the blonde. "Good morning, Kishinuma-kun." She echoed her daughter's greeting but with much more warmth. "Did you sleep alright?" Ayumi's mother inquired with a pleasant smile as the youth took a seat at the table.

"Good morning, yes I did. Thanks." He said to the brown haired woman before she turned back to the stove. From where he was seated it appeared that she was cooking a pretty average breakfast, miso soup, steamed rice, and grilled fish. His stomach grumbled lightly as he had not eaten much lately. Having only had a sandwich the previous evening he was still pretty hungry, so it was a relief to know that he'd be eating soon. The three people at the table all waited patiently for the matron of the house to finish cooking breakfast. About four minutes after the blonde had entered the kitchen food was being placed on the table, Asuka had her husband put the paper down, and the four were eating.

Seeing that no one was willing to speak Ayumi's mother decided that she'd be the one to break the ice, as per usual. But for once there was someone else that she could try to get to converse with her as the family ate. Looking over at the blonde seated next to her daughter Asuka addressed him. "So Kishinuma-kun, what are your plans for today?" The brown haired woman inquired in a friendly tone.

Currently Yoshiki's stomach and taste buds were in heaven. Going forty-eight hours without much food isn't very pleasant. But now that his stomach was being tended to he couldn't help but feel a great relief. 'Asuka-san's a pretty good cook.' The blonde uttered in thought as he took a bite of the grilled fish. The only time he was ever treated to a home cooked meal was when his younger sister would come over once a week to have dinner with him. And while he was hesitant to admit it his younger sister wasn't as skilled a cook as Ayumi's mother was. Of course that didn't mean that Miki didn't know her way around the kitchen, in all honesty her food was always very good. But considering Asuka's been at this longer it was safe to say who the better chef was.

Upon hearing the older woman's query Yoshiki looked over at the brown haired woman. Making sure to chew the rest of the food in his mouth before speaking he answered her. "Uh not a whole lot. I'll probably head down to my old apartment to pick up what I can. Plus I need to return the key to the landlord..." Yoshiki paused as he remembered that he had to work today. After a moment of consideration he decided that it would probably be a good idea to have the Shinozaki family aware of his work schedule. "Also I work today, twelve to six." The blonde said, inwardly thankful that for once he wouldn't be closing the shop.

Asuka nodded at the youth's response, to show that she was listening. "I see." She answered as he paused. At mention of him working today Ayumi's mother smiled playfully before speaking. "Say Kishinuma-kun, if you'd like I wouldn't mind making you a nice lunch to take to work." Asuka offered sweetly. At Yoshiki's reaction, nearly choking on his own spit, her smile widened. Despite knowing him for only a short time she found it quite fun to tease the boy. Ayato silently rolled his eyes at his wife's playful nature. 'His reactions are just too cute.' The older woman decided with a light grin. She really had taken a shine to their new houseguest.

Sighing quietly under her breath Ayumi did her best to ignore her mother teasing her friend. Even if it was somewhat surprising to see Yoshiki's cheeks flash red it was a little annoying that her mom was acting like this. 'Okaa-san's never serious.' Rolling her eyes Ayumi silently continued to eat her breakfast. Drifting into her thoughts the short statured girl considered how she'd spend this Saturday. After she finished eating she'd probably get cleaned up. Yoshiki had already showered and was ready for the day, so it didn't feel right for her to remain in her PJs all day. 'I still have to do my homework.' The blue haired girl thought to herself as she didn't even touch it yesterday, after all that had gone on she just hadn't felt up to it.

Since she was planning on doing hers today perhaps she'd wait till Yoshiki got back from his apartment. Ayumi's brow furrowed slightly as she remembered the state his apartment had been in the previous day. Maybe she'd offer to go with him, if he had to make multiple trips two pairs of hands were quicker than one. 'Then when we get back we'll do our homework.' If he's staying under the same roof as her it'd be best to help him with his schoolwork. Deciding on that course of action the dark haired girl nodded to herself.

Once he recovered his composure Yoshiki nodded thankfully at Asuka's suggestion. "Um, yeah. That'd be really nice, thank you Asuka-san." He said still somewhat embarrassed. At the older woman returning his answer with a smile he averted his eyes. Perhaps the most embarrassing part about it was that when he looked at Asuka's face he saw her youngest daughter's face with brown eyes. 'What I wouldn't give for Shinozaki to offer to make me a lunch...' The blonde teen thought somewhat wistfully. At his cheeks reddening even more he quickly shook away the thought. Remembering that the girl in question was seated next to him Yoshiki didn't want his mind to start wandering.

* * *

><p>Once breakfast was over Ayato, having the misfortune of working on a Saturday, left for his job. When Asuka moved to clear the table Yoshiki, somewhat eager to prove himself as not a complete burden, offered to help with the dirty dishes. So while Asuka soaped and rinsed Yoshiki dried and placed. Meanwhile Ayumi had slipped off to the bathroom to get cleaned up.<p>

Deciding to just take a quick shower Ayumi undressed and jumped in. The shower was still slightly damp from when her ex-delinquent friend had used it. The dark haired girl didn't let herself dwell on that fact that a boy had just used the shower before her for too long. Once she was clean Ayumi quickly got out, wrapped a towel around herself, and ducked into her room to get dressed.

After helping Asuka with the dishes, the older woman humming a tune that Yoshiki didn't recognize, the blonde headed to his temporary room. As he entered the hallway where Ayumi's and Hinoe's rooms were he just barely caught sight of the door to Ayumi's room close. Not thinking anything of it Yoshiki continued on his short path to his temporary room. Once inside he checked his phone and saw that he had a missed call and text message. Seeing that they were both sent from Miki he checked her text message.

{Onii-chan, call me.}

Going by the timestamp it would seem that her text message had been sent a little under ten minutes ago. Punching in her number Yoshiki put the phone to his right ear, three rings later and Miki answered. "Hey Nii-san." His little sister's greeting sounds from his phone.

Allowing a small smile to cross his features Yoshiki answered with his own casual greeting. "Hey Miki, what's up?" He asked in a nonchalant tone. He was a little hesitant to talk about what had prompted him to call her earlier. While he knew that he should keep his sister up to date about him he didn't want her to worry. His problems were his own and his fourteen year old sister didn't need to worry about them. Especially when there wasn't anything she could do about them.

He could imagine her rolling her gray eyes at his words. "You tell me Onii-chan, apparently your house burnt down yesterday and I'm only hearing about it now." She stopped talking as she waited for him to elaborate.

Slowly lowering himself onto the bed Yoshiki sighed. Rubbing the back of his neck he started talking. "Well technically it didn't burn down and the fire happened the day before yesterday." That little tidbit might not have made Miki happy, but he quickly followed up with. "I was at work at the time. But it's okay, no one got hurt. I can't stay there anymore, so I'm at a friend's house until I can find a new place." The blonde told his sister without mincing words.

As her brother explained his situation Miki hummed at the appropriate times. At his initial smart aleck remark she had to stifle a snort of derision. By the time he had finished telling her about what had happened to his home Yoshiki knew his sister was somewhat annoyed with him. "You should have told me sooner. Maybe I could have convinced Otou-san to let you come home." The younger girl told him, her voice holding concern for her older brother.

At hearing her desire to try and get their dad to let him come back Yoshiki rubbed the bridge of his nose. It always got on his nerves when Miki would try to find ways for him to come home. Despite wishing he could, for her sake, it just wasn't going to ever happen. His expression softened as he spoke. "Miki, you and I both know that's not going to happen." He gently told his little sister who breathed out sadly.

The other end of the line became silent. Yoshiki waited patiently for his sister to respond, when she spoke again her tone was one of sad resignation. A tone he heard more often than not when talking about this subject. "I know..." She admitted forlornly. Miki knew that her brother would never come back willingly and their father would never allow him to. But she couldn't help but yearn for the day when that would happen. She wished dearly that the empty room next to hers would become inhabited by her big brother again. Miki missed the days when he lived with her. She longed for the days when he'd help her with her homework, play video games with her, or just spend time with her for the heck of it. Ever since that summer when their dad kicked Yoshiki out she only saw him maybe once or twice a week now.

Scowling at his sister's sad tone Yoshiki stood up before absently walking around the room. "Miki I get how you feel, I do. But nothing will change between me and that man." The ex-delinquent told her, blatantly refusing to refer to him as his father. The blonde teen honestly wanted nothing to do with that man and he knew that sentiment was returned just as strongly. "Things are the way they are, it's why you just gotta make do with what you have." He told his younger sister. Truth was he was happy being out of his parents roof, even if he didn't get to see his sister very much at least he didn't have to have his father call him a failure all the time.

Miki nodded, even if Yoshiki couldn't see her preform the action. The fourteen year old really hated this situation her family was in. Truth be told versions of this conversation had occurred a number of times in the last two years. Miki would express her desire for her family to be whole again, and either her father or brother would tell her that it won't ever happen. The key difference being that Yoshiki refrained from calling his father horrible names while talking to her about it. "I understand..." She told him while covering up a sniffle. Wiping her eyes she decided that it'd be best to change the topic. "So Onii-chan, where are you staying at?" She wondered idly before venturing a guess. "Yuka's house?" She inquired knowing that his closest friend was Yuka's older brother.

Yoshiki nodded at his sister's response. He felt bad that he had to keep telling her this, but he wouldn't lie to his little sister. He was better than that. At her change of conversation he hesitated before answering. "Uh no. Actually Satoshi doesn't even know about my apartment catching fire." The ex-delinquent admitted to his sister. Yoshiki idly considered whether or not he should let his best friend in on his current situation. After a moment he decided that might not be a good idea. 'Shinozaki probably wouldn't like people knowing I'm staying here.' The blonde concluded before returning his attention to his younger sister.

Wondering who her brother could be staying with Miki raised an eyebrow. The only friends her brother had ever mentioned to her involved Yuka's older brother and that girl he admitted to liking. A sly grin crossed her lips as she decided to tease her brother a little. "Onii-chan, don't tell me you're staying at the house of that cute class rep you like." Miki playfully said, hitting the nail on the head. When making the joke she hadn't at all been serious, she just wanted to enjoy her big brother's flustered response. She knew the best way to tease her blonde brother was to bring up the girl he liked. So when Yoshiki's response was complete silence her jaw opened. "You're kid-!" Her voice suddenly cut off.

Yoshiki found himself speechless at his sister's guess being the correct one. When her voice cut out he was baffled for a moment before realization hit him at what had happened. "Battery's dead." He muttered before looking at the blank unlit screen of his cellphone. His phone had finally given out. "Crap." He muttered under his breath while closing his phone. "Guess I'll have to ask Shinozaki if I can use her charger." He concluded before leaving the bedroom and going to Ayumi's.

Without even thinking to knock he opened the door while calling out. "Hey Shinozaki mind if I-?" He stopped midsentence as he caught sight of Ayumi with her hair tied in its usual twin tails and clad in only a sports bra and a skirt. She was in the process of putting her shirt on. At being granted the pleasure of seeing more of her than he ever thought he'd be allowed to see Yoshiki's brain activity seemed to momentarily cease all function.

Ayumi, having dressed herself in a simple modest skirt finished putting on her sports bra. Grabbing a clean shirt she prepared to put it on just as the door opened without any warning. The minute she registered the voice of her temporary houseguest her face became comparable to that of a tomato's. Once passed her initial shock the twin tailed class rep regained use of her vocal cords. "GET OUT!" She screamed at Yoshiki, who upon regaining control of his body, slammed the door shut.

Once the door was closed Yoshiki began apologizing. "Sorry, sorry! I didn't see anything, I swear!" He quickly called out. His face felt unbelievably hot from what he had just witnessed. In reality he actually hadn't seen anything because Ayumi had been facing away from the door. The only thing he had seen was her back, but still to his teenage mind it had been quite a sight. 'Keep it together!' The blonde mentally shouted at himself as his thoughts tried to expand upon the image he had just viewed. 'You shouldn't have even seen that much!' He told himself, the small amount of regret he felt was enough to keep him from gleaming any pleasure from what he had seen.

Ayumi huffed in irritation and mortification at what had just happened. She couldn't believe that Yoshiki wouldn't actually think to knock before entering. 'Unreliable.' The words flashed in her mind instantly. After a moment where the silence allowed her some time to regain some of her composure she proceeded to yell at her blonde classmate. "What kind of person enters a bedroom without knocking?! Pervert!" Ayumi cried out at her blonde friend's thoughtlessness.

Putting the shirt on and making sure it was on straight the twin tailed girl promptly marched over to her bedroom door and yanked it open. Coming face to face with the blonde she had to fight to keep her cheeks from becoming any redder. "Now what was so important that you needed to come barging in without knocking?" She inquired through gritted teeth, placing special emphasis on her final word.

Gulping Yoshiki answered tentatively. "Sorry..." He hesitated a little more before deciding to just get through this. "I just wanted to know if I could use your phone charger." At his crush's less than pleased expression he averted his eyes. "I'm really sorry Shinozaki, I didn't even think. Please forgive me." He pleaded, hoping to all that this wouldn't weigh over them for too long. Yoshiki looked down, angry at himself for once again messing up with Ayumi. To him this was just another example of how his thoughtless words or deeds only seemed to lower her opinion on him.

At her blonde friend's explanation Ayumi was seething inside. What kind of unmannered person opens a bedroom door without knocking?! She wondered. It was just common curtsey to knock before entering, why didn't he think to knock before entering a girl's room? At his remorseful expression she stopped just as she was about to start tearing into him again. The dark haired teen almost felt bad at seeing that expression on his face. It actually looked like he was angry at himself...Ayumi hesitated again. 'This was just an accident.' She told herself. Despite knowing Yoshiki's old delinquent ways she knew that he had never been labeled a sexual deviant.

Even girls from his class last year all claimed that Yoshiki was always decent towards them. He never did anything improper to girls. He wasn't the type to try and peep into a girl's room while she's changing. Closing her eyes and counting to ten Ayumi felt her ire simmer somewhat. 'We're going to be seeing a lot of each other, might as well just move past it.' She told herself knowing that was the right way to go about this. There was no point in dwelling on this, it'd only be bad for both of them.

'He didn't even see anything.' The dark haired girl told herself. She ignored the tiny voice in her head jibing that she didn't even have anything worth seeing. Doing her best to let go of her anger Ayumi breathed out and then in. Of course saying that she was going to forgive him and actually doing it were two different things. Even if she knew it'd be best for their friendship to just let this go it wasn't easy to ignore the negative feelings she was experiencing right now.

No guy had ever seen her like that. 'I can't even imagine Mochida-kun seeing me like that.' The blue haired girl thought to herself. Now though she couldn't say that no one hadn't seen her in a state of undress. Yoshiki was officially the first and currently only boy to have ever seen her like that. 'I need to calm down, just tell him to knock from now on. If he does it again then we'll have a problem.' Ayumi decided as she spun on her heel and stalked over to the other side. Unplugging her phone charger from the wall she stalked back to her blonde friend before shoving the item into his hand. "Kishinuma-kun, from now on knock." She told him shortly before slamming the door shut.

"From now on knock..." Yoshiki whispered as he looked down at the charger in his hand. 'Idiot...' He scolded himself knowing that he had definitely screwed that one up. As he mentally reamed himself the ex-delinquent could swore he heard muffled giggling coming from the living room. 'Going to ignore that.' Since he lived alone he didn't bother with knocking on doors because he didn't have to worry about walking in on someone. 'That's no excuse though.' The blonde told himself before turning to go back to his temporary room. At the very least Ayumi had decided to go easy on him, she could have yelled at him a lot more but had for whatever reason decided to be lenient. 'From now on, knock!' The blonde mentally shouted at himself again, making sure the message would stick with him. He didn't want to end up in a situation like this again, Ayumi wouldn't look past this if he messed up like that again.

He paused at the door belonging to Hinoe's room. He considered knocking on it, as practice but felt that would be silly. Opening the door and stepping in he closed it behind him and moved to plug the phone charger in before attaching it to his cellphone. After a few moments he dialed his sister's number again and waited for her to pick up.

Miki picked up on the first ring and the moment the she did Yoshiki explained. "Sorry about that. My phone died." He told her before she could get a word in.

His sister hesitated slightly before responding. "Oh, ok..." She paused again not sure what to say as the conversation had cut off at a pretty interesting part. Taking a deep breath she decided she'd just come out and say it. "So you're staying with that class rep." She allowed her statement to hang in the air.

Yoshiki's eyes lost focus for a second as he remembered what had just happened. Clearing away the image of his crush's bareback he shook his head before answering. "Yeah, yeah I am.": He said awkwardly.

Another moment of silence passed by before snickering could be heard followed by smothered laughter. Once she calmed down from her laugh fest Miki spoke again. "Wow Onii-chan, just wow. I don't even know what to say to that." She admitted mid giggles. "It sounds like the opening synopsis to a cheesy romance movie." The fourteen year old girl paused again before deciding to add a little more. "A bad cheesy romance movie." She said before falling into another fit of laughter at the fact that her brother was staying under the roof of the girl he liked.

Rolling his eyes at his sister's reaction to the news of his nonpermanent living situation Yoshiki decided he'd wait for her to settle down. Regarding the well kept secret of his feelings concerning Ayumi his sister was the only person he had ever confided to about them. And while it was nice to have someone to talk to about them he sadly had to go through much teasing from his little sister. Every Sunday when she'd come over she'd ask questions like "Has a certain class rep been giving you any special attention lately?" or "Maybe you should ask Shinozaki for some private tutoring?" To which Yoshiki would become embarrassed and pointedly ignore his sister's teasing comments.

Once Miki had calmed down Yoshiki decided to give her some more insight. "I know, I know. But she was pretty insistent in helping me. It was sort of hard to say no to her." The blonde told her remembering how Ayumi had shot down all his possible solutions.

He could hear her grinning. "Oh I'm sure she did." She said knowing that the word no wasn't a common one when Shinozaki was involved.

Rubbing his left temple Yoshiki sighed in annoyance. Usually he could handle her teasing no problem since it was one of the trade offs for having a confidant with his feelings for the twin tailed girl. But right now he just wasn't in the mood to take the teasing. He'd been teased enough for one day. "You know when someone's house burns down they usually garner sympathy, instead my little sister laughs at me." Miki's older brother sarcastically uttered.

Deciding that she was probably starting to take it a little too far Miki pulled back. "Sorry Onii-chan, you know I'm just kidding, right?" She said, hoping she hadn't annoyed him too badly. Not letting him answer she continued. "In all honesty I'm actually thankful she took you in." She told him earnestly. 'At least Onii-chan won't be on the streets again.' The fourteen year old girl thought to herself remembering those few weeks after he left the house. She hated seeing him in the park during that summer, at the very least it wasn't winter so he didn't freeze to death but still...

Yoshiki nodded before deciding that it might be best to put an end to this conversation. "Yeah. Anyways Miki I should really get going. I got work later today but first I want to clear out what's left at my apartment. So I'm going to head over there now." He informed her.

Miki, despite wanting to chat with her brother for a little longer, hummed in agreement. "Alright Onii-chan, I'd offer to help you, but Okaa-san's forced me to agree to a shopping day. She says that I've been anti-social as of late." The teenage girl complained even if her mother's claim wasn't too far off base. Recently whenever she got home Miki would usually just hole herself up in her room.

"Alright, I'll talk to you later." Yoshiki promised before hanging up. Taking note of the time on his phone he saw that it was fifteen after nine. "I should really get going." He muttered before checking to make sure he had his wallet and keys on him, thankfully he had thought to transfer the items from his worn jeans to his new ones. After checking to make sure he had what he needed he scooped up his empty backpack and made to leave the room. His hand rested on the door knob as he considered something. 'Maybe I should ask Shinozaki if she has a gym bag or something I can use...' Yoshiki swiftly shook the thought away as he realized quickly how bad an idea that was. Especially after their last interaction hadn't exactly been very good.

'I might have to make multiple trips but I'll deal.' The blonde told himself before turning the knob. Upon opening the door he was shocked to find himself face to face with Ayumi who found herself rooted in place, her fist raised mid-knock. "Sh-Shinozaki..." He said unsure of what else to say. Why was she coming to him? Was she still angry?

Ayumi certainly hadn't expected her blonde friend to open the door just as she was about to knock. Upon meeting his gaze she quickly averted her eyes. Despite having told herself she'd forgive him for what he had done moments ago she couldn't ignore the lingering annoyance and embarrassment. Taking a deep breath she quickly chanted in her head. 'I'm the one who brought Kishinuma-kun here, I don't regret helping him.' The thought did help slightly in making her anger ebb away. Clearing her throat she stepped back and decided to explain why she had come to him.

"Kishinuma-kun, I was wondering if you needed any help in bringing back what's left at your apartment?" Ayumi, doing her best to maintain her usual helpful cheery tone, offered.

Yoshiki scratched his head at her offer. 'Wasn't she mad just a few seconds ago?' The blonde thought to himself. "Uh sure, I wouldn't mind the help. But I thought you were mad at me..."

Ayumi pursed her lips at Yoshiki mentioning her ire. "I'm still mad," She admitted while keeping her annoyance in check. "But I figure that it'd be best not to dwell on it. We're going to be seeing a lot of each other in the upcoming weeks, there's no point in letting this be a problem. It was just an accident, right?" Ayumi said indicating that Yoshiki best answer how she hoped he would.

Seeing as she was willing to let bygones be bygones Yoshiki nodded acceptingly. "It was." He told her while rubbing the back of his head. "And I'm still sorry Shinozaki, I honestly didn't intend for that to happen. I wasn't thinking." He told her showing that he honestly did feel bad about what he had done.

Blinking in slight surprise Ayumi did feel a tiny bit more of her annoyance fade away at seeing her blonde friend genuinely feeling bad about what had happened. Nodding Ayumi responded. "I know Kishinuma-kun. Let's just agree to pretend it never happened and forget about it, okay?" The twin tailed girl asked, honestly tired of even still talking about it.

Yoshiki offered a thankful smile. "Sounds good to me."

Ayumi nodded, feeling marginally better than she had a few minutes ago. "Alright then, let's get going." With that behind them the twin tailed girl decided to get them moving. She started walking towards the front door before being stopped by her blonde friend.

Remembering that he had been considering asking her for a bigger bag to help carry the stuff Yoshiki called out to her. "Wait Shinozaki." When she turned to look at him curiously he told her what he was on his mind. "I was wondering if you had a bag, preferably something bigger than this." He told her gesturing to the empty sack slung over his shoulder.

Looking at the bag he pointed to Ayumi nodded. "Yeah, I should have a duffle bag you can use. I'll go get it." The short statured girl informed him before heading off to her room to pick up the bag. After a about a minute she reappeared and displayed the bag to him. "Will this do?" The sixteen year old girl inquired while holding it out.

Yoshiki nodded, it'd be big enough to fit the clothes he had left and then some. While whatever was in his dresser had been roasted he did have some laundry in the bathroom hamper that had been spared. For once the blonde teen was thankful that he had put off doing laundry. Usually he always waited till the last minute to do his laundry since he had to lug the basket down and up stairs, and he needed to save change for the Laundromat...it was somewhat a hassle.

He'd be able to carry any miscellaneous items he had with his backpack, his chargers, CDs, and a few photographs he had managed to save. Regrettably any books he owned had all been lost. Plus his acoustic guitar had also been burnt to ash. As much as he wanted to wallow in the fact that he had lost what little he did have Yoshiki knew that would accomplish nothing. 'Best to just pick up the pieces of my life and start anew.' The blonde to himself before exiting his thoughts.

* * *

><p>After letting Asuka know that they were leaving the two teens slipped on their shoes and left the house. The walk to the apartment took slightly longer than it had the previous day as there were quite a few people on the streets. Businessmen who were running late for work, couples meeting up for weekend dates, and numerous other pedestrians going about their daily routine. Upon arriving at his old complex the two ascended the stairs and made their way to apartment C12.<p>

Using his key he unlocked the door and the two walked in. Not even bothering to take off his shoes Yoshiki stepped further into the apartment he had called home for nearly two years. Things were exactly as he had left them. His couch was still in tatters, the walls and floors were still covered in debris. Even the cereal box he had left on the kitchen counter was still there. 'I should probably lug those trash bags to the curb...' Yoshiki considered while running a hand through his hair. 'I'll get to that when we leave.' He decided as he didn't feel like ascending and descending stairs more than necessary. The blonde really hoped that his next apartment was on the ground floor, or that it at least had a working elevator.

Ayumi couldn't help but sigh at the dreary looking apartment. She definitely felt sympathy for Yoshiki, it had to be terrible to lose your home. 'At least he has a roof over his head and he'll find a new place before the six weeks are up.' The occult loving girl told herself. Ayumi had claimed that Yoshiki was a hard worker and she did stand by that statement, he wasn't going to be lazing about he'd find something. She knew he would.

Seeing as her friend hadn't bothered with taking his shoes off Ayumi decided to leave hers on as well. She didn't want to dirty her socks on the floor anyways. Looking around the place Ayumi took stock of the living room. In one corner she could see the trash bags that Yoshiki had probably just plopped down. In another corner she spotted a small stack of items, from what she could make out they looked like CD cases. She had no idea if that was all that survived, but she had a suspicion that if there was any more that there wasn't much else.

Yoshiki sighed as he walked over to her. "Take this," He told Ayumi before gesturing to the duffle bag she had been carrying. "Just take what's in that stack." The blonde ordered as he and Ayumi traded bags. "I'm going to get what's left in the other rooms." He told her before heading off to his bedroom to salvage what he could of his computer and desk speakers. Then he'd get the rest of his clothes and toiletries from the bathroom. Closing the door behind him he went over to his ruined desktop. Bending down to one knee he frowned at the computer tower.

While Yoshiki wasn't the most knowledgeable concerning computers he could tell that his probably wouldn't work again. So with a sigh of resignation he took out the hard drive before dropping it into the bag. Running a hand through his hair he got to work with taking apart the PC, tossing whatever parts he deemed undamaged into the duffle bag. Perhaps he'd ask around at work and see if anyone wanted to buy some spare computer parts. Once finished he stood up and glanced around his charred room again. Sadly his speakers hadn't been spared from the fire, they were both nicely toasted along with his desk lamp. The blonde grumbled under his breath at seeing that nothing else in his room had survived. Quickly leaving the room and going into his bathroom he started collecting what he needed.

Accepting the order Ayumi headed off to the pile Yoshiki had pointed out as her ex-delinquent friend made his way towards the door she remembered him going through the day before. Bending down next to the stack she started putting the CDs into the backpack. There were about six of them, surprisingly they were in pretty good condition despite what they had been through.

Next to where the CDs had been she spotted a couple photos. Curiosity hit her as she caught sight of the one on top. The edges of the picture had been slightly charred, but other than that it was okay. The image was of two kids, a boy with dark hair and gray eyes and a younger girl with matching hair and eyes. 'Who are these two?' Ayumi wondered as she looked at the photo, according to the timestamp on the bottom right it had been taken in 2002. About six years ago.

'Maybe that's Kishinuma-kun...' The dark haired girl considered uncertainly as while the boy did resemble him to an extent at the same time he didn't. Sure Yoshiki's hair was obviously dyed but Ayumi never saw him wearing such a toothy grin. Of course she had seen Yoshiki smirk or even crack a smile when he was amused. But she never saw him with such a carefree expression. Of course though the photo was a bit dated, people change. So Ayumi concluded that the boy in the picture was her blonde classmate.

'But who's the girl?' She pondered while staring at the younger girl in the photo. She had the same hair and eye color as Yoshiki, maybe a sibling or a cousin? 'Has Kishinuma-kun even ever mentioned having a sibling?' She asked herself before trying to recall if the blonde had ever said anything about that. 'Oh wait!' That's right he had mentioned her, and quite recently.

Yesterday he had admitted to having a little sister, but she hadn't thought much of it considering she was too fixated on trying to make sure Yoshiki didn't end up homeless. 'He said that his younger sister is the only family he has left. So this must be her.' Looking at the photo again Ayumi couldn't help but smile. The two looked so close, which would make sense considering she was the only family member who wanted anything to do with him.

Ayumi sighed sadly as looking at the two siblings made her think of her own sister. 'Nee-chan...' Even though Hinoe had only been away for a couple weeks she missed her greatly. Hinoe was Ayumi's main source of comfort and her most dependable confidant. She could talk to Hinoe about anything, unlike her parents who she couldn't tell anything to. Ayumi's wouldn't call her mom and dad bad parents, they did enough for her. Her parents kept a roof over her head and food in her stomach, but they were terrible when it came to lending an ear to listen to or giving moral support. Which was why she always went to her big sister for those things, Hinoe was always cheering her on. 'I miss you, Nee-chan.' Ayumi thought to herself before wiping a tear that had strayed out of her eye.

Shaking her head Ayumi ignored her sadness and put the photo into the backpack before picking up the others. There were about five photos, the others being much more recent than the first one she found. Some of them even had Satoshi and Yuka in them with Yoshiki and his sister. Ayumi picked up the last photo and paused at seeing herself, Yoshiki, Satoshi, Mayu, Sakutaro, Naomi, and Seiko in it. Yui-sensei was in the back of the photo with a warm smile on her face.

Thankfully the photo had been left untouched, there was no evidence to suggest that it had been in a burning building. Looking at the photo Ayumi couldn't help but smile. It was a good one with all of them together. Her eyes fell onto Satoshi and the twin tailed girl couldn't help but sigh wistfully. She had liked him since their last year of middle school yet despite pining for him as long as she had Ayumi hadn't gotten anywhere with him. And it felt like she never would.

Deep down she knew that was true, Satoshi didn't feel the same way she did. 'He likes Nakashima-san...' Everyone in class 2-9 knew that for a fact, except for the girl in question. Satoshi would never look at her the way she wanted him to, he wasn't the type of guy to like one girl a whole lot and then flip his affections to someone else. That personality trait was one of the biggest reasons she liked him, though it was also one of the things she loathed the most. 'Mochida-kun isn't like other guys...'

* * *

><p>Finished shoving the rest of his clothes into the duffle bag Yoshiki moved over to the small sink and medicine cabinet, grabbing his tooth brush, deodorant, and razor plush whatever other toiletries he needed he dropped them into the bag and zipped it up. 'That should so it.' It the blonde thought to himself doing a quick once over the bathroom. Deciding that he had all he needed he exited the bathroom for the last time.<p>

When he returned to the living room he was surprised to see Shinozaki still in the corner he had directed her to earlier. 'There shouldn't have been that much stuff.' The blonde uttered in thought before walking over to her. When he saw the picture she was looking at a small smile tugged at his lips, he was pretty happy that photo had survived.

Not even a full year ago Yoshiki didn't have anyone he'd call a friend. The other delinquents he'd sometimes hung around didn't count. In all honesty he had always found them to be too stupid and annoying. But then he got caught smoking in the boy's bathroom during gym and nearly kicked the shit out of that brainless teacher. He had been so ready to just say to hell with it and drop out of school. 'Then Shinozaki happened.' Yoshiki thought with a slight sense of nostalgia as he remembered how she had lied to the gym teacher just to help him. Then she actually had the gall to tell him he could graduate, he couldn't believe it.

He remembered calling his sister after school that day to tell her that he wanted to try harder. He never did tell Miki about that incident. To him it was his and Ayumi's own little moment, it was special to him. Even if she'd never realize it, she saved him. Not long after their paths crossed he met Satoshi and things got better. He actually had friends and was putting effort into school. Yoshiki still wasn't sure how he passed his first year of high school considering everything but he wouldn't complain. A little less than a year later he could say that he had a reason to go to school. He had friends now, even if he wasn't particularly close to any of them save Satoshi. Hell the brown haired boy was the only friend he was on first name basis on.

Looking back at the twin tailed girl Yoshiki's smile faltered when he saw exactly where her eyes were directed. Her blue eyes were looking directly at Satoshi, fighting back the wave of jealousy Yoshiki closed his eyes and reigned himself in before it could consume him. 'Like always...' Despite never letting his jealousy for his best friend mess up their relationship Yoshiki hated it that Ayumi held a torch for the brown haired boy. Though he knew he didn't have a right to be mad at anyone, no one chooses who they like. Hell sometimes he wondered what it was about Ayumi he was so attracted to.

Other than her being the first person who wasn't his sister to believe in him there wasn't very much that would reel in a guy like him. He didn't know why his heart had chosen her. Most of their conversations involved her becoming annoyed with him and nagging that he needed to keep up with his school work. 'Plus she's weird.' Hell she's the only girl he knew who would carry around horror props just so she can tell ghost stories on the fly, and she's really into occult stuff. Not to mention just how night and day they are. Ayumi took school way more serious than he did.

Disregarding those thoughts Yoshiki still couldn't help but find her quirks endearing in their own way. Whenever she nagged him to get stuff done he couldn't help but feel like she was telling him not to give up. He always enjoyed Ayumi's ghost stories because when the dark haired girl was telling them she always had a huge smile on her face and he always thought Ayumi was prettiest when she smiled. And while he did hold a great disdain to school related stuff he couldn't help but admire that someone would put as much effort as she does into school.

Feeling that he had been standing there for too long he made his presence be known by clearing his throat. "Hey Shinozaki, I got what I came for. I think we're done here." He announced while stepping closer to her, making it look like he hadn't been in the room for long.

Ayumi snapped out of her thoughts at hearing her blonde friend's voice. Looking up she was surprised to see that he was right next to her, she must have really been deep in her thoughts if she hadn't even heard him walk in the room. Glancing back at the photo in hand she quickly put it into the backpack and grabbed the rest of what was on the ground and quickly shoved them in the bag. "There's nothing else?" She inquired before standing up and absently wiping some of the soot of her hands. Looking around the place she tried to catch anything that her friend may have missed. Pursing her lips her eyes found the bags in the corner. "What about those bags?" The blue haired girl inquired

Following her gaze Yoshiki caught sight of the trash bags in the corner. "Yeah, I'll just take those to the curb for pick up." He told her before walking over to them. There were about three trash bags all full to the brim, grabbing one he took a peek inside to see the charred remains of his guitar. "My guitar..." The blonde said to himself as he looked at the ruined item. While he didn't let it show on the inside he was kind of broken up about it. The guitar hadn't been anything special, just a cheap acoustic guitar he had bought from the store he worked at, but it had been the first luxury purchase he ever made after leaving his parents' house.

Walking over to her friend Ayumi frowned at Yoshiki's down casted eyes. Looking down in the bag she saw what she could tell was the remains of a guitar, her friend's words confirmed her thoughts. "I didn't know you played guitar..." The dark haired girl trailed off not sure if Yoshiki would want to talk about it since his instrument was in shambles.

Yoshiki stole a glance at his crush before shrugging. "It's more of an idle hobby than anything, but I did like playing. Sadly, I won't be able to play for a good while." He told her before tying up the mouth of the bag and moving onto the other two.

Ayumi silently watched her friend go about tying up the trash bags, a question plaguing her mind. Despite being unsure if this was insensitive or not she had to ask. "So how much did you lose?" She tentatively asked.

Yoshiki's hands paused in tying off the final bag before he looked back over to her. Resuming his current action he answered her simply enough. "Not as much as you'd think. My guitar, a couple of books, some clothes, my speakers..." He trailed off before deciding that there wasn't too much of a point in listing off his losses, it'd just remind him that even before the fire he didn't own a whole lot. "I didn't have a lot of stuff, it's just not a whole lot survived. Thankfully this place came furnished so I can't say I lost any furniture." He told her before frowning in thought. 'Except my bed.' When he had first moved in all there had been to sleep on was a ratty old bed that had been left behind by the previous tenant. As soon as he could afford to he bought a better bed at a second hand furniture store.

Ayumi released a sad sigh, really feeling for her friend. "I'm sorry Kishinuma-kun..." She said not really being able to say much else.

Shrugging Yoshiki turned to face her. "Don't be." He told her while scratching the back of his head. "Sometimes crap just happens, I'm just lucky you came to help me when you did."

Ayumi nodded in agreement. It really was lucky that she showed up at his place yesterday, or else her friend would be without a roof over his head and she might not even had known. Walking forward she grabbed one of the bags from the floor. If this were any other situation she might lecture him about the value of recyclables but all things considering. "So is this all? Nothing else?" She inquired before doing a once over of the room. There were a couple bits of debris among the floor, but she had a feeling that it didn't matter too much since there was no way the two of them would be able to fully clean this place.

Yoshiki paused as he also did a look about. After a moment he shook his head. "Yeah, we're done here." He told her before reaching down and grabbing the two bags. Leading the way out Ayumi closed the door behind them before Yoshiki locked it. Picking up the bag he had placed on the floor he lead her down the stairs and to the front where he and Ayumi left the bags for the trash pick up.

"Before we go a couple more stops." Yoshiki told the twin tailed girl. Heading back into the building he checked the small mail box in the lobby labeled C12. Using a key he opened it and was unsurprised to see a couple days worth of mail. Most of it was just junk mail, but there was an envelope with the return address being the same as their schools. Tossing his mail into the duffle bag he closed the box and locked it. That reminded him he'd have to see about getting his mail forwarded. Finished with all he had to do here he went to the landlords office with his twin tailed crush in tow to return his key before heading back to Ayumi's house.

* * *

><p>Entering the Shinozaki residence Ayumi called out that they were back. No response was offered but they could hear the TV in the living room indicating that Asuka was still there. Silently handing over the backpack she had carried during the walk home Ayumi silently went to her room and closed the door. Yoshiki, now alone, decided to go back into his temporary room. Emptying out the duffle bag he tossed his clothes with the rest of his dirty ones. 'I need to do laundry soon...' Yoshiki thought to himself seeing as the pile of clean clothes was quite smaller than the pile of dirty ones. "I'll do it tomorrow." He said to himself before emptying the bag of whatever was left inside. He was off tomorrow so he'd have all day deal with his laundry.<p>

Rifling through his backpack he took note of what was inside. Five photos, mostly of him and his sister, and a few with Satoshi and Yuka included. Plus the picture he had taken with his friends at school. Yoshiki smiled fondly when he saw the slightly charred photograph of him and Miki when they were kids. He remembered that day she had wanted to go to the park even though it had rained earlier that day. Sometime after the photo was taken she tripped and landed face first in a puddle of mud. At the time she had laughed but when they got home his dad had chewed him out for letting Miki get in that state.

Sighing he pulled out his wallet and folded the photo before placing it in there. Going through what was left in his backpack he found some of the CDs that had survived. Miraculously most of what had gotten out unscathed were CDs that he had borrowed from Satoshi. While miffed that his collection had been melted he was at least thankful that he didn't have to tell the brunette that his CDs had been burnt. Putting the ones that belonged to Satoshi back in the bag he decided that he'd return them come Monday. While placing the photos and two CDs of his that had survived he heard a vibration coming from the other side of the room.

Looking over he saw his phone still plugged in. Picking up the phone he saw that he had a couple text messages to read. The older one was from Satoshi, having been sent while he and Ayumi were out. It was just a simple greeting.

{What's up?}

Yoshiki responded with a quick simple text that he was just relaxing until it was time for him to go to work. After sending his reply he checked the more recent message which to his surprise was from Ayumi. Raising an eyebrow he glanced at the wall which he knows on the other side is her room. Opening the new message he quickly read it over.

{Get your homework and meet me in the kitchen.}

While he'd rather not spend his time on homework Yoshiki knew that it was imperative that he get it done. Plus with help from Ayumi perhaps it'd be less of a chore, or at the very least more enjoyable. 'Might as well just get this over with as soon as possible.' The blonde told himself as he picked up the stack of assignments Ayumi had given him the day before.

He passed by Asuka in the living room, the older woman giving him a subtle wink before pointing at the kitchen where her daughter was seated with a few text books pulled out. Silently going into the kitchen to join her the ex-delinquent placed his school work onto the table and pulled out a chair from across her.

Looking up from the text book she had been skimming Ayumi took note of her classmate. His expression conveyed that he clearly didn't want to do school work. Then again who actually did want to do school work on a weekend? But he obviously knew it was best to just suck it up and get it done with. "Okay Kishinuma-kun we'll go in order of the class periods, so that means we'll do math first." She explained before turning to the most recent chapter in her calculus book.

Since he hadn't been in class on Friday she made sure to reiterate the lecture from class that day. She even lent him her notes so he could copy them. "Sensei said that midterms are going to be hard." Ayumi warned him as he answered a problem on his classwork, mentally doing the math in her head she saw that his answer was the correct one. 'When Kishinuma-kun actually takes the time to do the work he's not half bad.' The dark haired girl thought to herself as she watched him slowly work out the next problem. "Nakashima-san suggested that we have a study session next weekend to prepare for tests." She commented idly.

Yoshiki paused in his class work before looking up at his dark haired crush. "Really," Currently she was taking her time on her homework since he also had the work that had been done in class. So while he worked on that she'd point him along the right path whenever he messed up on an equation or put the wrong number in the wrong place. "That'll be helpful." He commented knowing that it would indeed do him some good to go to the study session. "When is it?"

"Saturday...Uhh you're going to want to redo that last one. You messed up at this part." Ayumi said pointing at the problem he had just completed.

Frowning the blonde turned his attention back to the problem he had just finished. 'Shinozaki could be a teacher if she wanted to.' Yoshiki uttered in thought before erasing his incorrect answer and went through the problem again with the class rep's help. Ayumi actually was pretty good at this, while she did help him she didn't hold his hand throughout the whole thing. In the back of his mind he could imagine his sister laughing at him for actually getting the girl he liked to tutor him. 'Focus!' He told himself as he redid the problem. When Ayumi nodded in satisfaction he sighed in relief and moved on to the next question.

* * *

><p>The clock ticked by as the two teens went over their classwork, Ayumi mainly helping Yoshiki with numerous problems while she did her own homework. Though he did prove to be more capable with other subjects once they were finished with math, namely English and History appeared to be his strong suits as he had pretty good memory when it came to having to memorize things.<p>

During a quick snack break Yoshiki heated up the plate that Asuka had left in the fridge for him the previous night. It was delicious. After their quick meal break they resumed their homework, Yoshiki needing less and less help as he managed to grasp the material.

Looking up Yoshiki lips curved into a frown when he saw the clock reading 11:38. With Ayumi's assistance he had managed to complete all of his classwork but he still had a fair bit of homework left to do. The history and English assignments seemed easy enough, but he wasn't looking forward to doing the calculus homework. Though that would have to wait till later. Kind of a shame, he had sort of been enjoying spending time with Ayumi, even if all they were doing was just homework. Putting his pencil down he breathed out. "Sorry, Shinozaki but I need to get going." He said pointing at the clock.

Over the last half hour no words had been exchanged as Yoshiki seemed to no longer need much help. So Ayumi had been engrossed in her own work. At hearing his announcement she glanced at the clock and saw that it really was time for him to get going. Judging by the fact that she wasn't done with her own work she could easily deduce that his wasn't complete yet either. 'We'll finish it later.' She decided as she closed her books and put them to the side. "Okay Kishinuma-kun, we'll finish up when you get back. You get off at six right?" She asked. While Yoshiki wasn't the most apt student he hadn't been difficult with his homework, so she had no problem assuming that future endeavors to help him on homework wouldn't be troublesome either.

Having overheard the teenager's conversation Asuka entered the kitchen. "Oh Kishinuma-kun, the lunch I made for you is in the refrigerator." She informed him with a warm smile before walking back into the living room.

Ayumi rolled her eyes at that. Watching her mom act all motherly to her classmate was just annoying. 'Geeze Okaa-san...' She thought before turning away to collect her school supplies. Leaving the kitchen she quickly made her way to her room and decided that she'd just plow through the rest of her homework.

Smiling awkwardly at the kind gesture Yoshiki thanked the older woman. "Thank you, Asuka-san." He replied before gathering up his homework and quickly returning to his temporary room. He grabbed his cell phone, which was now fully charged, and pocketed it. Leaving the bedroom he quickly went back to the kitchen and grabbed the lunch Asuka had made for him.

Seated on one of the two person sofas Asuka offered a sweet smile and wave at the young man as he headed for the front door. "Bye Kishinuma-kun." She called out as he offered a small wave back.

Leaving the house Yoshiki began the walk to his work place. As soon as he arrived, roughly five minutes before he had to clock in, the blonde made his way to the break room and put the lunch Asuka had made for him in the mini-fridge. Afterwards he promptly clocked in and assumed his station at the register.

The work day went on a bit faster than the day before. Being that it was a Saturday the store had a steady flow of costumers, ranging from cocky teenagers who wanted to buy an instrument to try and impress girls to old pros who were looking for a serious instrument or something to maintain their current one. Or preteens who were coming to buy the latest pop CD.

Finally she was finished...Ayumi sighed in relief as she lowered her pencil. It had been tedious but a little over an hour after her blonde classmate had left for work she had completed her homework. Now she was free for the remainder of the weekend. Picking up her cellphone she saw that it was still a little before one-thirty in the afternoon. Diligently putting the rest of her school work in order she placed her supplies to the side and grabbed her laptop. Powering it on the very first thing she did was check her email. Maybe Hinoe had replied to her message from the other day.

Peeking into her inbox Ayumi's face brightened as she saw that her sister had indeed replied to her. Opening the message she was greeted by a wall of text, Hinoe's words.

Dear Ayumi-chan,

I'm happy to hear that things are going well at home. I know Okaa-san and Otou-san can be somewhat difficult to get along with, but they do love you. Just because they don't agree with your aspirations doesn't change that, don't let it get to you. It's just their way of being concerned, which is why it's important to work hard to prove them wrong. As for where I am I'm currently in Berlin Germany, things are going well on my trip and I'm learning a lot. If you want I should have time to video chat with you tomorrow, at around 10 AM over there. It'd be nice to see your cute face again Ayumi-chan. Even though I'm having a good time on my trip I've missed you a lot these last couple weeks. Hope to hear from you soon.

With much love, Hinoe.

By the time she had finished reading her big sister's email Ayumi could positively say that her day had been made. Not wanting to delay her response she quickly opened up a blank page and began typing her response.

Dear Onee-chan,

I'm glad to hear from you so soon, and I'm happy that your trip has been fun. Even though I wish you were still here. Okaa-san and Otou-san aren't always easy to be around but I manage, we're all okay. What have you been doing on your trip? What's Berlin like? And yes I'd love to video chat, I've really missed hearing your voice, even if it is for just a bit.

Ayumi's fingers ceased moving as she considered what to type next. 'Should I tell Onee-chan about Kishinuma-kun?' The dark haired girl pondered to herself. She smiled to herself as she imagined her sister's surprised expression at hearing how she somehow convinced her parents to take in some boy from her class. Fingers moving along the keyboard she resumed typing.

Hey Onee-chan, you'll never believe what happened the other day. My classmate, Kishinuma-kun's apartment caught fire. Usually Mochida-kun's the one who delivers his school work, but he had me do it because he was tied up. And when I found out that he didn't have anywhere to go I somehow convinced Otou-san and Okaa-san to take him in until summer vacation. Crazy, right? Even if Kishinuma-kun and I aren't that close I couldn't just let him live on the streets. And now he's staying in your room until he can find a new place or summer vacation starts.

"..." Ayumi really hoped the latter didn't happen. But she had confidence that Yoshiki would find something in time so she wasn't too worried. Pausing in her typing she looked at the latter half of her email. The beginning of her email had been usual stuff, responding to her sister asking how she's doing. But the majority of her message involved the events of yesterday. "Well it is kind of a big deal, and Nee-chan should know that someone's borrowing her room." The twin tailed girl muttered to herself as she finished up her message.

Don't worry Onee-chan, I made sure to tell Kishinuma-kun to under no circumstances touch anything in your room. :)

Love, Ayumi.

The sixteen year old scanned her latter multiple times to make sure there were no spelling mistakes before deciding it was good enough to send. Pushing the send button she waited for the confirmation that her email had been sent. After that Ayumi checked the rest of her emails, to her annoyance most of them were spam material. Exiting her email she began mindlessly surfing the web. She also checked Saenoki Naho's blog to see if her idol had posted anything new on it. Sadly there wasn't anything she hadn't already read, but seeing as she didn't really have much else to do she reread some of her favorite post.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Kishinuma you're done for the day. Get the hell out of here." Kanzaki said with a joking grin as he jerked his thumb towards the front exit.<p>

Yoshiki looked up from his station and nodded at his superior. "Whatever you say Kanzaki-senpai." He told the older man before going to the back of the store to clock out. After doing that he went into the break room and grabbed the empty container that had held his lunch in it. 'I could get used to having someone cook for me.' The blonde thought to himself as he remembered the delicious lunch he had been treated to. Making his way to the front entrance he shot a terse wave to his boss before leaving the store and heading back to the Shinozaki residence.

"I'm back." Yoshiki called out simply as he entered the house. Taking off his shoes and putting them to the side he made his way to the living room. Upon seeing Ayumi's parents both in the living room, Ayato's expression a tired one, he offered them a simple greeting. "Hello." He said before walking into the kitchen.

Ayato didn't bother looking at the blonde houseguest, he just offered a tired hum in greeting while watching the TV. From what Yoshiki could see it looked to be some sort of game show. Ayumi's mother however turned to greet the youth with a warm smile. "Welcome back Kishinuma-kun, how was the lunch I made you?" She inquired while looking at the empty container in his hands.

Yoshiki nodded thankfully. "It was great, thanks Asuka-san." He told her honestly before going over to the sink to wash the container.

Asuka offered a hum of appreciation. "I'm glad you liked it so much. It's nice to have more people enjoy my cooking."

Once he was finished Yoshiki headed back to Hinoe's room but was intervened by Ayumi who reminded him that he needed to finish up his homework. Sighing tiredly Yoshiki nodded. "I know, I know. Just give me a couple minutes."

Ayumi, having long since gotten over her earlier annoyance, nodded amiably before turning to her room. "Alright Kishinuma-kun, just come to my room when you're ready and we'll finish up there." The dark haired girl informed him before heading to her room, pointedly leaving the door open for him.

Nodding to himself Yoshiki went back into his room before plopping down in one of the chairs at the table in the middle. Fishing out his phone he saw that he had a couple text messages. One was from his sister and another was Satoshi's reply from earlier.

{Nii-san, I finally finished Okaa-san's shopping day. I'm free tomorrow if you want any help in finding a new place I wouldn't mind tagging along.} Her message reads as such.

Yoshiki finished reading the message, rubbing his tired eyes he quickly wrote his response. While he didn't really need help to find a new place he wouldn't tell her no if she wanted to come.

{If you want to sure. But I don't really need the help, you don't need to waste your weekend helping me.}

After sending the message he moved onto Satoshi's text.

{Oh okay, I was going to ask if you wanted to hang out today but you're busy. Are you free tomorrow? You wanna come over?}

After reading the message the ex-delinquent quickly wrote his reply.

{Sorry man, I'm going to be busy. I'm spending the day with my sister.}

'Half truth.' the ex-delinquent mused to himself before sending the message. Without waiting for a response Yoshiki placed his phone on the table and stood back up. Going over to where he had placed the remainder of his homework he gathered up what he needed and headed off to Ayumi's room. Stopping at her door way he tapped the back of his fist against the door two times before walking in.

Seated on her bed and playing some game on her PSP Ayumi looked up when her blonde friend walked into her room. Pausing and turning off the device she tossed the handheld to the side. "Just use the desk." She told him as he hesitantly walked over to her wooden desk. "I already finished the rest of my homework so I'll help you." Ayumi informed him before going over to assist him.

The evening passed on quietly as Yoshiki finished up his homework, Ayumi aiding him every now and then when he needed help. Around the time they finished the two teens were called for dinner. Dinner was a fairly pleasant affair. Ayumi and Ayato were both silent at the table with Asuka asking the two teens about the day. Ayumi gave short simple answers, though she did mention that Hinoe had messaged her earlier. Yoshiki also kept his responses fairly simple.

"Since I'm off tomorrow I'll probably start looking at apartments." The blonde informed Ayumi's parents when Asuka asked what his plans were for the next day.

Ayato nodded approvingly while his wife answered. "That sounds nice, I hope it goes well." The brown haired woman told him, her warm smile in place.

After dinner Ayumi and Yoshiki were left with cleaning the dishes. While Yoshiki scrubbed and rinsed the shorter teen handled the drying and putting them away. Once they finished their task the two teens went back to their respective rooms to retire for the night.

Checking his phone before bed Yoshiki noted that Satoshi had replied to him. Opening the text he read it to himself. "Oh, okay man. Hey did you ever get the work I had Shinozaki bring you?" Yoshiki nodded after reading the message.

{Yeah, sorry Satoshi. And yes she did deliver it. I actually just finished today.}

After sending the message Yoshiki checked to see if his sister had responded to his earlier message. Seeing that he had no new messages the blonde closed his phone and got ready for bed. After changing out of his clothes into something comfortable to sleep in he plopped down on the bed and closed his eyes.

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><p>And that's the third chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Be sure to give a review and let me know what you all thought.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

Before I start this I think I should make an important announcement. So far I've been updating on a biweekly basis, once every two weeks. The next update will probably see some slow down as I am going to be having a procedure done to fix my eye sight. My cornea's are cone shaped, making it hard for me to see. Actually I'm legally blind in one eye. And this procedure is to save the one good eye I have left. I'll probably be down for a bit while recovering. Not sure how long, but I hope to be back and writing quickly.

Once again IIonezerozero thank you for betaing this chapter, you have been awesome and deserve so much more attention on this site than you actually get. I hope my readers will take the time to at least check out your stories.

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><p>Life at the Shinozaki's<p>

Chapter Four:

Plugging in his cheap ear buds Yoshiki powered on his Playstation Portable. After viewing the usual start up sequence he browsed the playlist before choosing a song at random. The strum of guitar riffs filtered into his ears and the blonde found himself nodding approvingly as the song was to his liking. Lowering himself to the floor he stretched out his legs and rested the back of his head against the bed.

It was Sunday morning and he didn't have a whole lot to do at the moment. Judging by the clock on his PSP it was just a little after nine-thirty. Breakfast had finished moments ago and now Ayumi and her dad were left with the dishes while Asuka had opted to watch some TV. Yoshiki, not feeling comfortable enough to lounge in the living room had retreated to his temporary room. He absent mindedly rubbed his stomach, Asuka had once again proven her culinary talents. It was nice to be able to eat homemade food more than one day a week.

Shutting his eyes Yoshiki inhaled before letting out a breath as he allowed himself to relax. Yesterday had been his first full day at the Shinozaki's, and for the most part it had gone off well. The blonde couldn't resist the urge to smile as he realized that the majority of his day had been spent with Ayumi. It was a nice change from them never spending time one on one outside of school. Save for the incident where he had entered her room unannounced while she had been getting dressed things had been going well between them. A mild frown graced his features as he reminded himself to stop thinking about it. They had agreed to put it behind them.

So far his stay at the Shinozaki residence had been smooth sailing. Ayumi and he were getting along well enough, better than usual in fact. It was kind of nice to be getting along with his crush. Ayumi's mother had also been nothing but a ray of sunshine in his situation, every time Asuka saw him she made sure to fix him with a warm smile. Hell she had even been kind enough to make him a lunch for work. The only member of the Shinozaki family that Yoshiki hadn't seen much of was Ayato. The blonde had a feeling that Ayumi's father just wasn't much of a people person.

Considering him and the older man hadn't exchanged any words since the day he came to stay with them that wasn't unsurprising. 'Hell I don't think Shinozaki even talks to him much.' Yoshiki mused to himself as he tried to recall a moment he had seen the father and daughter talk to one another. When the blonde thought about it he found himself a little shocked to find that Ayumi didn't seem to talk to either of her parents very much. 'Almost like my family...' The thought filled him with a slight bit of unease as he remembered how interactions in his family played out before being disowned.

His father would never utter a word at the dinner table and neither did Yoshiki. Miki would sit awkwardly watching as her dad and brother pretended the other didn't exist. All the while his mother would attempt to fill the deafening silence with uncomfortable chatter. His bangs swayed slightly as he shook his head to clear away with the memories. 'Shinozaki's relationship with her parents might not be perfect, but it's way better than mine was with my parents.' Yoshiki told himself confidently.

*Vibrate, vibrate, vibrate*

The buzzing of his cell phone against his left leg broke him out of his thoughts. Pulling out one of his ear buds he dropped it to the floor. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out his phone and answered without looking at the caller ID. "Hello," He greeted, having a decent idea of who would be calling him right now.

Miki's cheerful voice greeted him. "Good morning, Onii-chan." Allowing herself a slight pause before continuing. "So what time did you want to meet up today?" She asked him.

Scratching his cheek Yoshiki looked up at the ceiling in thought. What would be a good meet up time? According to the nearest clock it was just a little after nine-thirty. 'Maybe an hour or so.' He concluded before answering Miki's question. "In a little bit, how's ten-thirty or eleven sound?" He then added as an afterthought. "Where should we meet up at?" He asked since he knew that his sister had no idea where Ayumi lived.

"Eleven will work for me." Miki said as she nodded in agreement. At his next question she took a second to think before just shrugging. "Why not just meet in front of your old place?" That would be a good spot to meet up considering it was familiar to the both of them.

Yoshiki smiled slightly as he rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, sounds good. I'll see you then." He told her before the two siblings hung up. Putting his phone back into his pocket Yoshiki breathed out a small sigh while running a hand through his hair. 'An hour and a half huh? What to do?' He asked himself before mindlessly scanning the room. So far he had spent two nights in here, but he had refrained from touching anything, per Ayumi's orders. And he didn't have a whole lot to occupy him...

'Oh right...' The blonde thought in annoyance as he caught sight of his dirty clothes that he still needed to wash. He always did wait till the last minute to do his laundry, old habits die hard. 'Might as well get it out of the way, I've got the time.' The blonde urged himself before rising to his feet. "But I probably should ask Asuka-san if I can use the washing machine." He muttered as he exited the room.

Coming into the living room he passed by Ayumi who had just finished washing the dishes. The twin tailed girl seemed to be in a bit of a rush as she made a beeline for her room, quickly closing the door behind her. 'What is she in such a hurry for?' The blonde thought to himself as he remembered the look of anticipation he had seen in her eyes. Ignoring his curiousness regarding his crush's actions he turned to Asuka who was seated on the couch. Next to her was Ayato, who was leaning back in his seat with a mug filled with steaming coffee in hand. "Excuse me Asuka-san?" Yoshiki called out tentatively to get her attention. "I have some laundry I need to do, would it be okay if I used your washing machine?"

Asuka looked at him in slight befuddlement before nodding. "Of course, Kishinuma-kun. You don't need to ask." She told him kindly before pointing behind him. "The laundry room is on the second floor, first door on your right." The brown haired woman informed him before returning her attention to the television she and her husband were watching.

Yoshiki nodded his thanks. "Thank you, Asuka-san." He told her before quickly returning to his temporary room to get his dirty clothes. Wrapping them in a makeshift bundle he left the room before going up the stairs. Upon arriving on the second floor, his first time being up here in the two days he had been staying at the Shinozaki's, he entered the first door to his right. He was pleased to see the washer and dryer were both unattended.

After dumping his load of dirty clothes into the washer and adding some detergent Yoshiki activated the machine. Whirring to life the washer begun to fill with water. The ex-delinquent breathed out a relieved sigh, happy that the task was complete, before heading back to Hinoe's room. As he closed the door behind him he felt his phone buzzing yet again. Fishing out his phone he flipped it open to see that he had received a response from Satoshi.

{Well even so, it's still somewhat shocking that you actually managed to finish all that classwork yesterday. Did Shinozaki help you out or something?}

Yoshiki frowned lightly at his best friend's message before typing his own reply. Throughout the morning he and Satoshi had texted back and forth a little. It was mostly the brown haired boy expressing mild shock at the blonde finishing all of his assignments quickly for once. 'Satoshi really hit the nail on the head.' He thought to himself as he reflected on the brown haired teen's closing remark he had just read. Ayumi really did help him, in more ways than one. "Of course I can't tell him that." Satoshi's surprise wasn't really uncalled for, since Yoshiki typically dragged his feet a little when it came to homework on the weekends.

Sunday was the day he tended to plow through his remaining assignments since he always had that day off. He couldn't tell Satoshi the actual reason he had finished his homework so promptly was due to his temporary living conditions. Yoshiki was certain that Ayumi wouldn't like it if the boy she fancied knew that she had him staying at her house. So he would do his best to keep from letting Satoshi or anyone else in on that detail. 'Though I might want to tell Shinozaki that my sister knows where I'm at.' He idly considered before returning his attention to his phone. Finishing his response he read it back to himself.

{Eh, don't act too surprised. I just felt like getting that crap out of the way. And yeah Shinozaki was helpful, she lent me her notes.}

After reading the message Yoshiki nodded to himself, finding it to be acceptable, as he pushed send. Satoshi wouldn't suspect anything regarding his living condition, it wasn't too out of left field for Yoshiki to plow through something just for the sake of getting it over with. And everyone knew how helpful the class rep of 2-9 was, so it made perfect sense for her to help him however she could.

Suddenly Yoshiki felt his foot get caught on something mid-step. "Huh? Whoa!" The blonde yelped as he fell to the floor. Thankfully he had been quick enough and managed to put his hands out to take the brunt of the impact. "Damn it!" He cried out as he smacked into to the ground. "What the hell did I trip on?" Yoshiki grunted as he turned himself over so that he was sitting up. Looking down at his left foot he saw that one of the straps to the duffle bag he had tossed to the side was tangled around his ankle. Heh, he had forgotten about that. 'I really should return that...' The blonde thought as he blindly reached for his phone that he had dropped. Pocketing it he untangled the strap from his foot.

'Also I need to give her charger back.' The blonde remembered as he stood up and unplugged the item from the wall. Charger and bag in hand he left the room and made for Ayumi's, pausing as his hand hovered over the handle. 'Remember, knock.' He told himself before stepping back slightly and tapping on the door a couple times.

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><p>Ayumi's face brightened considerably as her sister appeared on the computer screen. About five minutes ago she had finished cleaning up after breakfast and had rushed to her room. Sure it was a little early but she wanted as much time as she could get to talk to her sister. And now that, that time had come she was ecstatic. "It's so good to finally see you Onee-chan." The dark haired greeted happily. "It feels like it's been forever."<p>

Hinoe happily returned her younger sister's smile. "It's good to see you too, Ayumi-chan. I've missed you, how have you been?" The twenty-seven year old inquired warmly. Just as the twin tailed girl was about to answer a loud thump and yell sounded out. Blinking in confusion she shared the look with her younger sister. "What was that?" She inquired curiously.

Ayumi's lips dipped into a frown as she turned to face where the noise had originated. 'That sounded like it came from Onee-chan's room...Kishinuma-kun better not have broken anything.' She thought to herself as her eyes narrowed. A few moments later she heard the sound of knocking on her door. Ayumi would be very displeased if this was Yoshiki coming to tell her that he did in fact break something. "It's open." She announced in a neutral tone. When the head of blonde hair popped she felt her annoyance surface slightly. 'At least he knocked this time...'

Yoshiki paused slightly at the annoyed look on his crush's face. She didn't look very pleased at his intrusion, offering a sheepish smile he got straight to the point. "Sorry Shinozaki, I was just returning your bag and charger." He told her while presenting the mentioned items.

Ayumi's expression relaxed slightly as her mild irritation faded. Pointing over to the bed she directed him. "Just drop them over there," The twin tailed girl ordered before turning back in her chair to face her sister who had a pensive look on her face.

Before her little sister could say anything Hinoe beat her to the punch. "Is that the friend you mentioned yesterday, Ayumi-chan?" The brown haired woman inquired, her voice laced with curiosity at the young man her sister had taken in. Ayumi often mentioned her friends in their usual chats, the one she talked about most being Mochida Satoshi. But even before recent events she had heard mentions of the ex-delinquent, mostly complaints about how she had to nag him to get stuff done. But from what recent information she had gotten regarding his situation she was curious to see what sort of person he was. Even if he was someone who annoyed her sister this Yoshiki person had to be a good guy if Ayumi was willing to bring him to her house in order to keep him off the streets.

Yoshiki glanced over his shoulder after placing the items on the bed. He did a double take of the woman on his crush's computer monitor. 'This is Shinozaki's older sister...' He thought to himself as he compared her current image to the one he had seen upon entering Ayumi's house. She looked mostly as she did in the photo he had seen, just with longer hair and not in a school uniform. From what he could currently see she seemed to be wearing a yellow blouse and a shirt underneath. When his eyes met hers she offered him a warm smile that felt similar to the one Asuka usually gave him.

Raising his hand in greeting Yoshiki offered a nervous smile of his own. "Uh, hi." He mentally slapped himself as Ayumi glared at him. Flinching slightly he cleared his throat and made another go at it. "I mean, I'm Kishinuma Yoshiki. Nice to meet you." He got out with as much politeness as he could muster. He was a little nervous meeting Ayumi's elder sister. 'Understandable since I'm currently using her room...' Of course that was the main reason. But from what little he had managed to pick up he had been able to glean that his crush held her sister in high regards. So he wanted to make a good impression on her.

Hinoe's blue eyes took in every detail they could of the young man. His blonde hair and sharp eyes would put some at edge but not her. She was more fixated on his body language, especially how aware of Ayumi he seemed to be. The long haired woman could easily discern that Yoshiki held more than friendly feelings for her, little sister, it was kind of sweet how much effect she had on him. Just from a simple glare he had quickly straightened out and tried to make a better greeting. She felt the impulse to softly pat his head, but since she wasn't physically there it was easy to ignore it.

Almost immediately Hinoe could say she had the feeling that she'd like Yoshiki. "Nice to meet you Kishinuma-kun, I'm Shinozaki Hinoe. You can call me Hinoe if you'd like." She told him before glancing at her little sister with a slightly mischievous look in her eye before looking back at the blonde. "Or Onee-san would be fine as well." She told him with a smile as Ayumi's face flushed lightly at her older sister's teasing.

If it were anyone else Ayumi would have been pretty annoyed at the teasing. But the twin tailed girl could never find it in herself to think negatively of her older sister. Sighing she bit back the embarrassment. "Geez Onee-chan..." She whispered under her breath before realizing that her blonde classmate had yet to respond to her older sister. Snapping her head up to look at him the blue haired girl shot him a glare, as if daring him to be impolite to her big sister.

Yoshiki could feel her sharp gaze on him, trying to appear calm he shoved his left hand into his pocket. "It's nice to meet you, Hinoe-san." He told her as politely as he could manage. "But I really should get going. I've got some stuff I need to do today." He informed the older woman before backing off. While he still had well over an hour till he needed to meet with his sister he felt that Ayumi would prefer it if he leave her be for now. She'd obviously like to talk to her sister alone, so he'd oblige. "Later." He said before closing the door behind him, effectively making his exit. Breathing a sigh of relief he leaned against the door as the nervousness faded.

"Oh, Kishinuma-kun I was looking for you." Asuka's voice caught his attention. Turning to face where she had sounded from Yoshiki saw the brown haired woman standing just outside the door to his room. Walking over to him she held up a piece of paper. "If you're not doing anything right now would you be willing to run down to the supermarket to pick up a few things for me?" She inquired with a warm smile.

Mildly surprised at the request the blonde stalled before nodding mutely. Accepting the piece of paper he noted that it was a shopping list. There wasn't a whole lot on it, milk, eggs, sugar, and a few other items. Looking up from the list he nodded again. "Sure, I don't mind." He told her. She and her family were putting a roof over his head, it was the least he could do.

A thankful expression crossed over the older woman's features. "Thank you, Kishinuma-kun." Asuka thanked him before reaching into her pocket to pull out a couple bills. "This should cover it." She told him while pushing the money into his hand.

The gray eyed boy nodded in thanks before pocketing the money and list. "Thanks, I'll be sure to give you your change." He promised before quickly stalking over to the front door, slipping into his shoes, and exiting the house. Checking his phone for the time he pocketed before breaking into a light jog towards the market.

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><p>Ayumi found herself sighing at her blonde classmate's abrupt exit. Looking back to her elder sister she offered a apologetic smile. "Sorry about that Onee-chan, Kishinuma-kun's a little...dense." For lack of a better word.<p>

Hinoe turned her attention to her younger sister as the door closed behind Yoshiki. Chuckling lightly at Ayumi's ironic description the older woman smiled. "It's no problem Ayumi-chan, Kishinuma-kun seems like a nice boy." Sure she hadn't been able to observe him much, but from what little she did pick up she knew that she liked him. It was kind of adorable how aware of her little sister Yoshiki was.

The dark haired girl sighed at her sister's quick assessment of her friend. Sure she liked Yoshiki, he was her friend, but he got on her nerves more times than not. Up until recently he had still been smoking, and while he had improved his attendance record he still found it in him to skip at least one day a week. Not to mention that he never thought before acting. "Kishinuma-kun isn't all that reliable." Ayumi told her sister as her mind momentarily flashed to the incident that had happen yesterday. Her cheeks flashed red as she remembered the mortification of it, but she quickly fought the feeling away. 'We agreed that it was an accident and to forget about it!' The twin tailed girl reminded herself.

Hinoe tilted her head in curiosity as she wondered what could have made her little sister's face turn that shade of red. "What makes you say that?" The twenty-seven year old inquired.

The twin tailed girl paused as she deliberated on whether to share yesterday's events with Hinoe. After a minute or so Ayumi decided that she might as well. Considering she told her sister about everything it wouldn't hurt to tell her about this. From across the hall she could make out the distinct sound of her mother starting up the vacuum. Groaning to herself in irritation she reached over to her right and grabbed a pair of headphones before plugging them into her computer. Once she was certain that they were working she returned her attention on her sister. "Well yesterday-." Ayumi started out before falling into a bit of a rant of the previous day.

Hinoe had to bite back a chuckle as her little sister described the events of yesterday. To her it sounded like the most clichéd event from a number of anime shows that her sister had watched. She found herself surprised though that mid-rant Ayumi did stick up for Yoshiki by claiming that she knew he wasn't the type to peek in on girls, but still! Hinoe smiled lightly as she gained a tiny bit more understanding of the relationship between her sister and the blonde boy. Hinoe smiled lightly as her sister finished nearly talking her ear off about Yoshiki walking in on her. 'Even if Ayumi-chan said she's forgiven him, it's probably best that she vented a little.' The older woman told herself as their conversation shifted into everyday things.

After a random comment about her studies Ayumi informed her sister that midterms were coming up. "Exams are next month." The twin tailed girl mentioned to Hinoe as she shifted slightly in her seat. How long had they been talking? Looking at the clock on her computer she saw that they had been going at it for a little over an hour. Despite her stiff back it felt like almost no time had really passed by.

The brown haired woman felt a tiny bit of nostalgia. "Is it that time of year again?" She inquired. "Even though I graduated from Kisaragi Academy ten years ago it feels like it was only yesterday."

Ayumi smirked lightly at her older sister before speaking. "Onee-chan you should be careful, if you keep talking like that I might start mistaking you for an old woman." She teased before breaking into a light chuckle that was shared by her sister. Once the two stopped laughing Ayumi spoke up again. "My friend Nakashima-san suggested that we have a study group at her house to help each other with subjects that we're not too confident with."

"That sounds like fun."

Ayumi nodded with a light smile as she pictured how the day may go. "I'm sure it will be." A smirk appeared on her face before revealing her plan. "I actually have a little ghost story in mind, it's been a little too long since I last gave Mochida-kun a good scare."

Chuckling at the mention of scaring her little sister's crush Hinoe couldn't help but smile in amusement. "What story are you planning this time, Ayumi-chan?" She asked curiously.

Ayumi's smirk widened as she prepared to give her older sister a sample of her story. "Oh it's a good one, it's about a-" But before she could finish speaking she was cut off by the sound of a cell phone ringing.

Hinoe looked away from her monitor as her phone lit up. She felt as annoyed as her little sister looked, but she had to keep her composure. Reluctantly she held up a single finger to tell Ayumi 'one moment' before reaching for her phone and flipped it open. "Hello?" She asked politely.

The twin tailed girl watched with nervous eyes as her sister nodded and gave short simple answers to the unknown caller. In the pit of her stomach she knew that their time to talk had been cut short. 'It's not fair...' She thought to herself wanting more time for her and Hinoe to talk. In her sixteen, almost seventeen years, of living she had never spent more than maybe a couple days away from her older sister. But she hadn't seen her in the last two weeks, and they had only been communicating through email which just wasn't as good as actually talking.

Once she hung up Hinoe looked at her little sister with regretful eyes. "Sorry Ayumi-chan, but I have to go now. I promise to email you sometime tonight." The older woman told her.

Ayumi's shoulder's drooped in disappointment as her fears were confirmed. Even if she wished they could keep talking she knew that just wasn't possible right now. Nodding in acceptance Ayumi put on her best fake smile. "It's okay Onee-chan, I hope the rest of your trip goes well." The twin tailed girl managed to keep her sadness at bay as Hinoe also smiled sadly.

Once the connection was cut Ayumi sighed sadly as she stared at the blank monitor for a few moments. Sighing again she turned off her computer and unplugged her headphones before standing up. Walking over to her window she closed the curtains before dragging her feet over to her bed and plopping down face first in an ungraceful manner. While she was happy that she and her sister had been allowed a little over an hour to talk uninterrupted it just wasn't enough. Ayumi felt like a kid who had been given a delicious dessert only to have it taken away after getting only a couple bites in. 'Nee-chan...' She missed having her sister be within walking distance.

Shutting her eyes she allowed her body to relax. At the very least she had finished her homework yesterday so she could laze about all she wanted for now. Even if she did have things to do Ayumi wouldn't feel like doing them right now. Breathing in and out she allowed mind to drift before being enveloped by sleep. She'd feel better after a nice nap.

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><p>Yoshiki closed the door behind him with one hand as he kept his grip on the bags in his other. "I'm back." He announced before taking his shoes off and walking further into the house. Coming into the living room he was surprised to see no one there, the TV wasn't even on. He briefly wondered where Ayumi's parents were, their shoes were still near the front entrance. Deciding that it didn't matter all that much he went over to the kitchen and went about putting the groceries away. After finishing with that he pulled the receipt from his pocket and placed it on the counter along with the change he had been given back.<p>

"10:39." Yoshiki murmured under his breath before pocketing his phone. 'I should probably get going if I'm going to make it on time.' He decided as he exited the kitchen. As he entered the hallway his eyes glanced up the stairs. "I might want to check on my laundry though." With that in mind Yoshiki headed up the stairs and peeked into the laundry room. The machine was no longer on, signaling that it was finished cleaning his clothes.

Quickly he took the now clean clothes out of the washer and threw them into the dryer. Turning it on he nodded approvingly. 'Alright, lets get going.' He urged himself before exiting the laundry room. As he came out he nearly bumped into Asuka. "Whoa," He called out as he stopped himself from colliding into the brown haired woman. "Sorry about that, Asuka-san." He apologized sincerely.

Asuka took a step back just in time to avoid the blonde. Offering him a smile she shrugged off the almost accident. "It's find Kishinuma-kun, I guess you got the groceries?"

Yoshiki nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, I put them away. The receipt's on the table, so is your change." He informed the older woman before moving to go around her. "Anyways sorry to come and go like this, but I told my sister that I'd meet her at eleven so I best get going."

Asuka nodded understandingly. "Of course, have fun." She told him before moving to get out of his way.

"Bye." Yoshiki offered as he quickly went back down the stairs. Checking his phone he saw that he had a little less than twenty minutes to get to the park before the meeting time. If he left now he'd probably get there just on time, provided traffic not being too heavy. The ex-delinquent slipped his shoes on again and exited the house before heading off in the direction of his old apartment.

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><p>Kishinuma Miki allowed a soft sigh to slip out as she checked her phone for the third time in the last ten minutes. 'Ten after eleven.' The dark haired girl thought to herself before glancing around the park yet again for any sign of her older brother. 'He's late.' The park wasn't all that big, there were a plentiful number of trees that offered shade and a couple benches for sitting on. Glancing over at a large oak tree the girl narrowed her eyes as she remembered that being the tree her older brother had camped out under after being disowned. As much as she honestly loved her father Miki couldn't help but resent him for forcing her brother onto the streets.<p>

After Yoshiki was kicked out her relationship between her and her parents had soured slightly. Every time she came home she'd just lock herself in her room, only coming out to share meals with them. The only time she ever spent with her folks was at the kitchen table or when her mom managed to talk her into the occasional shopping trip on the weekend. Honestly she did love her parents, but she couldn't help but feel some disdain for them. Her dad for kicking Yoshiki out and her mom for not having the backbone to ever disagree with him.

"Hey Miki!" The familiar voice of her brother pierced her thoughts. Looking up Miki smiled as she caught sight of her brother's mop of blonde hair. Her smile was returned as the older teen walked up to her. Miki was the same age as Satoshi's sister, they had even gone to the same elementary school together. She had dark hair that was just past shoulder length and her eyes were the exact same shade as her brother's. Today she was dressed in a light blue blouse with a white shirt underneath and a pair of old dark blue jeans. When he stopped in front of her he offered a sheepish look. "Sorry I'm late, the streets were a bit more packed than I had thought they would be."

Miki's expression softened before she nodded in understanding. "It's okay Onii-chan, though it wouldn't have hurt to text me." She told him before standing up from the bench she had been seated on. Stretching her arms she fought off the urge to let loose a groan. "So..." She started out with a teasing smile. "How has your stay at the Shinozaki hotel been?" At her brother's pink cheeks she snickered lightly.

Rolling his eyes Yoshiki shoved his hand into his pocket and did his best to brush off his sister's teasing. "It's been nice, they even have a continental breakfast." His sarcasm was met with more giggling. "Come on Miki, can't you give me a break for today?" He asked in a wry tone.

Miki allowed herself to get all the laughing out before nodding. "Okay, okay Onii-chan. I'll lay off for now. But you can't blame me for not getting at least one remark in, can you?" The gray eyed girl inquired with an easy going smile.

Yoshiki shook his head lightly, a small smirk at his sister's playfulness in place. "Not really, but you've already got your remark in. So let's get down to business. The sooner I can find a new apartment the sooner I can stop mooching off Shinozaki's family." The blonde told his sister as he led them out of the park, further away from his old apartment.

Miki quirked an eyebrow at her brother's ending comment. "You don't like it there?" She queried curious as to how her brother's stay at his crush's house had been so far.

Yoshiki shook his head. "Actually the exact opposite. It's nice there, but I don't want to take any more from them than what's necessary. So it's best I find a new place quick." The blonde explained as he glanced up at the street signs. Pulling out a piece of paper he had scribbled on he took note of the first address he had jotted down. That morning he had asked Ayato if he could borrow the paper to look at local listings for apartments. At the unexpected favor Ayato had nodded approvingly and handed the classifieds to him. Yoshiki had circled and written down the ones that were within his price range and that were near Kisaragi.

Miki furrowed her brow at her older brother's explanation, at least he seemed to be doing alright over there. "I see. Though I'm sure they don't expect you to find a place immediately. So it should be alright if we're unable to find anything today." The younger girl tried to assure her brother as she knew the chances of finding a new apartment on the first try would be unlikely. It had taken Yoshiki a couple weeks of camping in the park before he managed to land his old home.

Yoshiki offered a silent nod to his sister's words. Sure he knew that the chances of finding anything acceptable today would be unlikely, in fact he was certain that they wouldn't. 'But Shinozaki did say I was a hard worker.' And he'd be damned if he made a liar out of her. Taking another glance at the paper he committed the address to memory and continued leading his sister towards where he knew the complex would be.

* * *

><p>Miki scowled as she and her brother ascended the stairs of the first place she and her brother were checking out. They had yet to see the inside of the apartment but she was one hundred percent certain that she wouldn't like this place. The complex was even more run down than Yoshiki's old place. The railing leading up to the second floor was coated in rust and had a few missing segments. Plus some of the windows to other apartments were broken and covered with plywood or even thick walls of duct tape. 'What a crap hole!' The fourteen year old thought to herself. There was no way she'd allow her brother to stay here.<p>

Finally they came to a stop in front of the vacant room. The man who had been leading them, the building manager, was a short balding man with a greasy face. He opened the door and walked in. "It's not much, but it's very affordable for someone on a part-timer's salary.' He told them.

Almost immediately the two teens felt the urge to retch as a horrible smell assaulted their nasal passages. 'What the hell is that?!' Yoshiki screamed in his thought at the smell of something that had spoiled forever ago came to him. The blonde was confident enough to consider himself flexible when it came to discomfort, but this was just too much, even for him.

Her hand shot up to cover her nose. "Gah! What the hell is that stench?" His appalled sister cried out loud as she smelled the putrid scent. 'It's like something died in there!'

The building manager glanced back to the two teens with a curious expression. He didn't smell anything out of the ordinary. "What's wrong?" He inquired as he waited for the two teens to follow him in.

Yoshiki looked at the bald man as though he were insane. "You don't smell anything?" He questioned in bewilderment. 'Well the guy does live in this building, maybe he's become desensitized or something.' The blonde told himself, though that wasn't a good thing. How the hell had this complex not been condemned?!

The place was awful, inside it appeared as bad as it stunk. The tatami mats were rotted beyond belief, the Kishinuma siblings even caught sight of a few mushrooms sprouting out of them. Upon opening the fridge they found the source of the smell, some sort of spoiled meat dish that had been left behind by the room's previous tenant. "Hehheh, how long has that been in there?" The landlord wondered with a sheepish laugh as he tried to think of a way to actually convince the youths to take the apartment.

When they looked into the bathroom and caught sight of numerous cockroaches scurrying away from the source of light Yoshiki had seen enough. "What kind of shit hole are you running?! How are you even allowed to try and rent this place out to people?!" Letting his anger take control he yelled in the man's face before rearing back as if to strike him.

Miki quickly intervened, stepping in between the two men and placing her hand gently on her brother's chest. Turning to the building manager who was cowering in fear at the blonde teen's explosive reaction she offered a weak smile. "Thank you for this...interesting experience, but there are still many other places for us to check. We'll keep you in mind..." She told him before quickly dragging her brother by his wrist to the entrance before he could get anymore fired up.

Once they were away from the building Miki breathed out in relief before looking at her older brother in slight annoyance. "Geez Onii-chan, I thought you were going to deck him." The younger girl uttered to her brother as they walked side by side. 'That place was beyond awful, but an assault charge is just not worth it.' She thought worriedly for her brother.

Trying to shake off his frustration with what just happened the blonde grunted. "I would have, but you got in the way." He told her before separating her hand from his wrist. "I still think you should have let me hit him." Yoshiki muttered before bringing out his list of possible prospects. Mentally crossing the first address of the top of the list he read the second one. It should only be a few blocks away. "Let's just hope that the next place isn't as bad." He commented before shoving the piece of paper into his pocket.

The next apartment they saw was much in much better condition than the first one. It was a little dingy, but it wasn't much worse than Yoshiki's old one. At least it didn't make the pair want to gag upon stepping foot in. Sure the carpet had a couple stains here and there plus the front door needed a new lock, but to Yoshiki it was livable. Sadly the manager just wanted too much for it, the man was charging nearly double price he had paid at his old apartment. Yoshiki told him that he just couldn't afford the place. It wasn't worth it.

* * *

><p>"Ahhh..." The ex-delinquent breathed out as he slumped in his seat across form Miki. The pair of siblings had decided to take a break and get something to eat. The fast food place wasn't all that good, but it was adequate, and besides Yoshiki wasn't picky when it came to food. For two years he had to eat cheap if he wanted to survive. "The last place wasn't too bad, but the asking price was just ridiculous." Plus even when they tried to talk the manager down to a more agreeable price he had been obtuse in his refusal to compromise.<p>

The blonde sighed as he fingered the lighter in his pocket. Usually when he was stressed he felt the need to smoke. After dealing with those last two places he felt like he usually did when he wanted to smoke, but he couldn't do that anymore. He didn't want to break Ayumi's trust. So, despite the minor headache, he ignored it as he started eating the greasy burger that had been placed before him. Thankfully he had already been on the path of giving it up, so the headache wasn't as bad the first time he tried quitting. "It's okay, Onii-chan." His sister's voice caught his attention. "You'll find something. You've only just started looking today, these things take time." She told him encouragingly. "How long are you allowed to stay at Shinozaki's place?" The gray eyed girl inquired.

His headache pushed to the back burner for the moment Yoshiki finished chewing before giving her an answer. "I have till the start of summer vacation, so six weeks. After that whether or not I've found something isn't Shinozaki's father's problem." The blonde said as he recalled the older man's words to him.

Miki narrowed her eyes in annoyance. "Then what are you in such a rush for? Onii-chan, you have a month and a half, that's more than enough time to find something. I'll even check a few things out online when I get home tonight." She told him before promising to email her findings to him. 'What would you do without me Nii-san?' She thought to herself with a small smile.

Yoshiki nodded slowly before looking down in thought. 'Guess I'll have to ask Shinozaki if I can use her laptop.' He didn't have a computer anymore, so he had no feasible means to access the internet. Deciding to push his worries to the side he continued to eat his food.

Once the two teens finished their lunch they left the restaurant and made their way to the final address Yoshiki had jotted down. It was a bit further from Yoshiki's old residence than the other two had been, but it was within the same walking distance from Kisaragi, just on the other side. Upon finding the apartment Yoshiki released a whistle. "Yeah, there's no way I'll be able to afford this..." He said under his breath as they went into the complex.

But still he was curious to see what it would actually cost, so they went and met the landlord looking to fill the vacancy. As soon as they went into the apartment Yoshiki knew without a doubt that he wouldn't be staying here. He waited for the guy detailing all of the apartment's key features to stop talking before he asked. "How much?" He said shortly. At hearing the price his eyes widened at the actual price, he wouldn't be able to afford a place like this unless his boss gave him one hell of a raise. "Thank you for your time, but I can't afford that." The building manager offered a tight smile but nodded nonetheless.

Yoshiki sighed tiredly as he looked at the time on his phone. It had just turned 3:00 PM and he and Miki had been wandering around for the last half hour since looking at the last prospect that had turned out to be a bust. "Well that's all I've got." He told her as they came to a stop. The blonde fought the urge to groan as he recalled each place they had seen.

The first apartment they had gone to had been such a crap hole, Yoshiki was still wondering how the building was allowed to remain standing. On second thought maybe it was better he didn't know. The next place had been a little more up his alley, being somewhat below standard but more than livable, sadly the price was just a complete rip off for what it was. 'And the last place was just way too expensive...' The blonde said in thought as he shoved his hands into his pocket.

Miki looked down at her feet, she wished they could have found a place but she wasn't too surprise. "Well it's a start Onii-chan, we just have to keep looking." She told him optimistically. "Don't worry, you have six weeks, I know you'll have a place before that." The gray eyed girl said, hoping that she could assure her brother.

His expression softened somewhat at his sister's optimistic approach. Deciding she was right he allowed himself to relax a little. "Yeah, you're right Miki. I still have time, I'm going to keep on the lookout for ads. I should start asking Shinozaki's dad for the paper every day and find the ones I can."

Miki nodded in agreement. "And like I said earlier I'll start checking local listings online for you. Don't worry Onii-chan, things will work out." His little sister said optimistically.

With that the two teens went on their way to walk home, Yoshiki bringing his sister most of the way to her house. When they parted ways he told her, "Wednesday is my next day off, so after school I'll see about checking more places out."

The fourteen year old nodded, her mood cheerful. "Sounds good, see you later." With that the two siblings went their separate ways.

* * *

><p>Asuka was seated on the sofa when she heard the door open. Looking up from her book she glanced around the room, Ayato was currently napping on the couch, his expression peaceful. Looking towards the entrance she waited for the blonde to show up. Offering him a kind smile at his entrance she inquired how successful he had been. "So, how'd the search go?" She asked remembering that the blonde had planned on looking at apartments while he was out with his sister.<p>

The blonde looked slightly deflated before shrugging it off. "Eh, nothing promising, places were either too run down or way above my budget. But I'm not giving up." He told her with a smile of his own. Talking to Asuka always seemed to be a pleasant occurrence. It definitely helped him forget the feeling of not accomplishing anything with his search.

Asuka frowned lightly before smiling. She wasn't at all surprised that he didn't find anything, actually she didn't mind having him here the full six weeks. So far he had proven to be a respectful house guest, plus she had been enjoying his reactions to her teasing. "Well that's too bad. But you'll find something." She told him simply as he entered the kitchen to grab a glass of water.

Yoshiki allowed himself to accept the words of encouragement. "Thanks Asuka-san." The blonde said as he took a sip of his drink before glancing off to the side as he allowed his mind to wander slightly.

Asuka smiled warmly before remembering something. "Oh yes, I almost forgot, your laundry should be finished by now. Why don't you go get it? Ayumi still needs to start on hers." The older woman informed him before rising to her feet. 'Speaking of which I should go check up on her. She hasn't left her room since eating breakfast.' The older woman thought to herself as she remarked how quiet her daughter had been during the day.

The blonde haired teen nodded as he remembered that he still had clothes in the dryer and that he best not leave them there. Chugging down the rest of his drink he placed the glass in the sink, he'd wash it later, and bounded up the stairs while catching sight of Asuka knocking on her daughter's door in his peripheral vision.

Ayumi stirred slightly at the sound of someone knocking on her door. Moaning lightly the dark haired girl turned as her fog filled mind registered her mother's voice. Stifling a yawn she looked over at the clock on her night stand. It was four-thirty. When Ayumi didn't prove quick enough to answer her mother said woman opened the door and peeked in. "Ayumi, are you awake?" She called out to her youngest daughter as she opened the door a little more.

The blue haired girl slid off her bed and nodded groggily. "Yes Okaa-san, I'm up." She told her mother.

Seeing that her daughter had just woken up Asuka entered the room fully and turned on the lights. Ayumi found herself shielding her eyes at the initial stinging sensation, even though it wasn't night her curtains had been drawn, making the room pretty dark. Her eyes required a few moments to adjust to the brightness. "Kishinuma-kun's finishing up his laundry. You have school tomorrow, so you should get yours in the wash." Asuka recommended as she pointed at the hamper in her daughter's room.

Her eyes having adjusted slightly the twin tailed girl nodded mutely as she lowered her arms. She looked at the hamper, on the very top was her Kisaragi uniform, and saw that it was full. "Alright, Okaa-san." Ayumi responded as she obediently grabbed the hamper and moved to head to the laundry room.

"...Hold on, Ayumi." Ayumi froze on the spot at her mother's unnaturally serious voice. It was enough to make the hairs on the back of her neck stand at attention, this was the voice Asuka used when her someone was in trouble. Upon turning around to see what her mom wanted Ayumi felt all the color drain from her face at the offending item in her mother's hand. "What are these?" Asuka asked in a tone that showed how serious she was.

'I forgot about those!' Ayumi shouted in thought as she eyed the pack of cigarettes in her mom's hand. Her breathing became slightly shallow as she tried to think up a reasonable explanation as to why she had those. She could tell the truth, but that would be akin to throwing Yoshiki under the bus especially when it was her fault that this had happened. She cursed herself for being so careless! Her breathing became even worse as she still tried to wrack her mind together as to what to tell her mother.

But before she could come up with anything else another voice pierced through the deafening silence that Ayumi's mother had created. "Those are mine." The ex-delinquent claimed as he placed his bundle of clothes on the floor and entered the bedroom.

Having quickly gathered his clothes Yoshiki made his way to Hinoe's room but stopped short when he came upon an eerily familiar scene. A parent waving a pack of cigarettes in their child's face, demanding to know where they came from. He still remembered the day he had been kicked out with clear vividness. He had skipped his last period and after milling around a bit walked his little sister home after she got out of school.

* * *

><p>It had been the last day of school before summer so the Kishinuma siblings had settled in and started playing some games on the old Nintendo 64 in Miki's room. It wasn't until about seven in the evening that his father's angry voice rung out.<p>

"YOSHIKI!" The house all but trembled at the enraged voice.

The fifteen year old scowled at his father's voice. Pausing the game as his sister was about to KO his character he dropped the controller and raced to where he had heard his father shouting. Upon going into his room he saw his dad holding a pack of cigarettes and from there the argument broke out. It started with his father shouting at him for being an ungrateful son who's going to wind up a failure. Before almost instantly the teenager biting back with his own venomous words, calling the bastard a piss poor father.

More insults were traded until finally, red in the face, his father grabbed him by the arm and dragged him to the front door. Yanking it open he tossed Yoshiki out like a rag doll and screamed. "And get the fuck out of my house!" Followed by the slam of a door being shut.

As Yoshiki attempted to peel himself from the ground, which was a little muddy from the earlier sprinkle, he heard the sound of the door open before being slammed shut. Obviously his sister coming see if he was okay before being denied by their father.

* * *

><p>Returning to the present Yoshiki cleared his throat before speaking again. "Those are mine." He repeated to Asuka who had turned her sharp eyes on him. Yoshiki nearly choked on his own saliva at the expression on the older woman's face, it was a little more like the look he saw on Ayumi's face whenever he pissed her off but worse.<p>

Asuka's frown deepened. "These are yours?" She asked in a clipped tone while presenting the pack towards him. "Would you mind explaining why I found them in my daughter's room?" She asked in a razor sharp tone.

On the outside Yoshiki was the picture of calm, but on the inside he couldn't help but be a little fearful. A few minutes ago he and Ayumi's mother had been talking under friendly terms. But now the possibility of her kicking him out wasn't unlikely. Heh, he figured that if someone here did kick him out it'd be Ayumi's dad. Clearing his throat he pushed down his fear and began to explain. "When Shinozaki brought me here she told me that you guys wouldn't tolerate me smoking. So I agreed to kick the habit and she had me give her my last pack so she could get rid of them." He told the brown haired woman, his voice hesitant and awkward. He felt like was on the thinnest of thin ice at the moment.

Asuka looked back and forth between her daughter's guilt ridden face and the blonde who, despite his obvious nervousness, was standing firm. Even if she was steamed about this she still liked Yoshiki, he came off as a sweet boy in her opinion. This wasn't something she'd get over in a day or two. But... "Kishinuma-kun, you're lucky Ayato wasn't the one to find these, he'd kick you out in a second." The older woman told him bluntly before pocketing the pack. "I won't let Ayato know about this, but if I find any more cigarettes in my house he will find out about this. And then I'll let him decide what to do." The brunette told him as she quickly exited the room and made for the kitchen. On the inside Asuka was still sore about this, she needed something to do to occupy her mind, perhaps she'd get an early start on dinner.

Yoshiki released a breath of air that he didn't even know that he had been holding. Despite his sadness that Ayumi's mother was mad at him he was amazed that he hadn't just gotten kicked out. He'd almost call it a miracle. 'That could have gone so much worse.' The blonde teen thought to himself as he scratched his head. Sneaking a peek at his twin tailed crush his expression deflated slightly at her watery eyes. When he looked into them they said 'sorry.'

Biting her lip Ayumi broke their gaze and the silence. "I'm sorry, Kishinuma-kun. This was my fault..." She muttered, mentally berating herself for letting this come to pass. How could she forget to throw away the one thing that could have gotten her friend thrown out?! The blue haired girl continued to ream into herself at how she had nearly messed things up for her friend.

Yoshiki frowned as he saw Ayumi's expression. "No Shinozaki, it's not your fault. This one's on me. I'm the one who bought them." He told her. "Don't take responsibility for my mistakes." The blonde bluntly told her as he silently promised that after this he'd never touch another cigarette again, they were just too much trouble. The only good smoking had ever done him was that day when he got caught in the bathroom by that stupid gym teacher and Ayumi came to his rescue. Though that fact did make him wonder, would Ayumi's and his paths have crossed had he never smoked to begin with? Shaking the thought away he decided that it didn't matter.

Despite her friend's words Ayumi couldn't help but still feel guilty. Yoshiki could pin all the blame he wanted to on himself for smoking in the first place. And while he was right that it was his own mistake, this one was on her. It could have all been avoided if she had simply not forgotten to dispose of the pack. But that didn't matter now, she couldn't change what had happened. 'Okaa-san's going to be pretty cold to him for awhile...' The twin tailed girl thought to herself, feeling the guilt claw at her. As irritating as it was to watch Yoshiki and her mom get along so well she couldn't help but feel bad that her thoughtlessness had smudged the relationship between them. 'I wish I could fix this somehow...' The dark haired girl thought to herself as she thought about how her mother would be with Yoshiki for awhile.

Usually her mother was friendly and kind to all those around her. But if you really rubbed her the wrong way she'd be pretty cold to you. Ayumi still remembered an incident when her father did something that made her mother really mad...she didn't talk to him for a week. 'Okaa-san's a master at the silent treatment...' The twin tailed girl thought to herself wishing that her friend wouldn't have to deal with this.

"Hey, Shinozaki!" Yoshiki's rough voice snapped her out of her musings. Looking at him she saw that he had narrowed his eyes. "I already told you that this isn't your fault, so cut it out with that look." He told her before adding in gentler tone. "Don't blame yourself..."

Ayumi averted her eyes with a pensive expression on her face. Despite wishing she could comply with his wish to not blame herself she couldn't help how she felt. Because this incident had been caused by her carelessness it was indeed her fault. But she would at the very least try to ease his concern, since it was the least she could do for him for taking the fall with this from her mother. Nodding she tried to come off as natural. "Alright Kishinuma-kun, I'm sorry." She told him, her words holding a double meaning.

The blonde relaxed a little as she seemed to be hearing him. A part of him wasn't completely sure if she still blamed herself or not for this, but he couldn't force her to let him accept the blame. But he'd keep an eye on her. "Good, that's good..." He muttered a little awkwardly, unsure of what else to say. Glancing around he caught sight of his laundry, seeking an out the blonde hastily scooped up his clothes before turning to his crush. Offering what he hoped was a reassuring smile he made his exit. "Later, Shinozaki." He bid her before returning to his temporary room.

Once she was by herself Ayumi let a pent up breath go. She suddenly felt very drained from what had just occurred. 'I'm sorry, Kishinuma-kun...' She uttered in thought before glaring at the floor. She felt bad but she couldn't just wallow in pity about this, she had to do something. 'Like I said I'll just have to help him best I can.' The twin tailed girl reaffirmed as she moved back to the hamper she had dropped upon seeing her mom with Yoshiki's cigarettes. Picking up the basket she quickly left her room and tossed the clothes into the washer before turning the machine on and returning to her room. Closing the door behind her she stalked over to her laptop and powered it on.

Dear Onee-chan

Ayumi's blue eyes remained glued to the screen as she typed out her letter to Hinoe.

I made a stupid mistake today. Kishinuma-kun use to smoke, I've mentioned this before, how I convinced him to give me his last pack of cigarettes. The problem is I forgot to throw them out and Okaa-san found them. I'm just thankful that she didn't kick him out.

Ayumi's fingers paused in typing as she momentarily considered what would have happened had her dad been the one to find them. When her mind entered a place she didn't like she cut those thoughts off and continued typing.

Before this Okaa-san was very friendly with Kishinuma-kun, she even made him a lunch for work yesterday. But we both know how Okaa-san can get when she's been crossed. When she found the pack I just completely locked up, I don't think I've ever seen her eyes get that hard, not even when she sided with Otou-san when I told them about my dream. I want to make this up to Kishinuma-kun somehow. Regardless of what he says it is my fault that she found them. But I'm not all that sure what I can do to make things easier for him. Help.

Love, Ayumi.

Blue eyes peered over the letter for any mistakes. Rereading it to herself a couple times Ayumi decided that it was good enough and sent the email. Closing her computer the twin tailed girl leaned back in her seat and sighed tiredly.

* * *

><p>Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, bet you guys didn't see this turn of events coming? Or did you? A review is always appreciated.<p> 


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